California Indians
Population estimates of pre-1492 people in today’s North America north of the Rio Grande range from 1,152,000 to 7,000,000. Among those Native American peoples were the California Indians who resided in the general area of the modern state of California.
The various environments, seacoasts, rivers, river deltas, lakes, forests, valleys, deserts, and mountains were rich with resources with gave ample sustenance for the population. This resulted in California being one of the most densely populated areas of Northern America. Allowing for a social and political stability, this stability encouraged a peaceful co-existence with one another often missing in other parts of North America. Neighboring people-groups often developed elaborate systems for the exchange of goods and services. Consequently, the California tribes achieved flourishing cultural and material levels rarely seen in among hunting-gathering societies.
That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races, until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected. While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.
But as is human history and human nature, times changed and so did attitudes. In the late 1800s, a lively commerce developed in which there was high demand for native people’s baskets. This was especially important for the women of whom basketry was sought. It opened up a livelihood in a time when job opportunities were limited for them. In 1924, Congress ensured that all people of native, indigenous ancestry were accorded full citizenship.
Further Reading:
• California Military Museum. militarymuseum.org/HistoryIW.html. Retrieved August 28 2018.
• Lowell, John. Britannica.com. “American Indian”. (2022)
• Thornton, Russell. American Studies, Native American Demographic and Tribal Survival into the Twenty-first Century (2005)
Watch this video about the influence of Spanish encroachment into California.
Watch Mati Waiya, a Chumash ceremonial leader, talk about Chumash culture at a TedX Talk.
The two Mojave girls lived in the southern part of California and the Pomo dancer along California’s northern coast.
Wikimedia Commons Images
The California Indians had ample sustenance provided by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plant foods, and typically, gender roles were well-defined: men hunted and fished while women and children collected plant foods and small game. Men fashioned items such as bows and arrows, spears, gaffs, and traps. Women crafted items such as nets, fine baskets, clothing, and cooking utensils. Depending on the region, food resources varied. Shellfish, fish, acorns, and game supplied food for coastal dwelling peoples. People in the valleys and foothills found a ready supply of acorns, the plants, game, fish, and waterfowl. People living in deserts relied on piñon nuts, mesquite fruit, and game.
When encroachment eventually and slowly occurred, it tragically resulted in almost complete destruction of a native culture and population of the people. The California Indians faced severe societal disruption beginning in 1769 when Franciscan missionaries from Spain established a series of missions along southern and central Pacific Coast. Many of the native inhabitants forcibly dislocated to missions where much of their traditional life and culture was destroyed. Beginning in 1848 the gold rush drew hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe to California, many settling in interior regions over the next five years. In the next 50 years of encroachment, the California Indian population collapsed from pre-missionization high estimate of 275,000 to an estimated 15,000 by the end of the century.
Salinan Tribal Council member, Don Pierce and DNG president, Steve Wright, at the Moro Bay Maritime Museum grand opening.
Watch this documentary about the amazing Yahi man, Ishi.
Incredibly, in the late 1800s, a soul-sickening extermination practice—sanctioned and financially incentivized and rewarded by the California and United States governments—almost entirely eradicated a once thriving, prosperous, and good people. Annihilation was endured by indigenous people across the state. The first governor of California, Peter H. Burnett did not start the destruction, but he added to it. His example is an apt one of the time, and the California State Military Museum has captured Burnett’s words. In January 1851, he stated: