Colville (kŏl´vĬl), indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Once one of the largest Salish tribes, they were reduced to a few hundred by 1872. They were placed on a reservation in NE Washington and since that time have markedly increased, so that by 1990 there were 7,140 Colville in the United States. Many still live on the Colville reservation.

Colville, river, c.375 mi (600 km) long, rising in the De Long Mts. of the Brooks Range, NW Alaska, and flowing across the tundra, east then north, to the Arctic Ocean. All of its major tributaries rise on the north slope of the Brooks Range. The river, frozen for most of the year, floods each spring as ice on its upper course melts. Umiat is the chief village along its banks. Coal, oil, and natural gas are found in the valley.