Geography 417
California for Educators
Lesson One
Californias Native People
California Standards
Standard 4.2-4.3
the major nations
of California Indians
geographic
distribution
economic
activities
Legends and
religious beliefs
how they depended
upon, adapted to and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land
and sea resources
Are these the
things you would chose?
Web Link
California
History On-Line
Native Americans
Or is it Indian?
Cultural Hegemony
and Indians
Consider the
issue of the Indian Mascot
Cultural Iconography (fig)
Cultural Iconography (fig)
Indians Arrive in North America
Bering Land
Bridge (4 Holocene Ice Ages)
10,000 - 50,000
Y.B.P.
Following herds?
On foot? By boat?
Earliest sites
under water?
Bering Land Bridge
How do we know about them?
No written
history: oral traditions only.
Spanish Mission
records
Critique of Missionary records?
Estimated
population of 130,000-300,000 at time of Spanish arrival
Highest
population density of any non-agricultural area in the world at the time
Archaeological
Evidence:
Housing and village remains
Middens
Distribution
In every area of
the state but concentrations highest along the coast.
Early Californians appear to have been very
successful up and down the coast.
Why do you think the
Coastal Indians were most abundant?
California Indian Tribes (map)
Language
Diversity of
tribes: 135+ dialects and at least 6 distinct language families.
Why do you think
there would be so many dialects and language families in an area so small?
Most of the
languages extinct today, although preservation efforts are underway.
Economy and Agriculture
Hunting and Gathering, with exception of
Cahuilla, Yuma and Mojave agriculturalists along Colorado River.
Western irrigationists
have been credited with helping early Mormon groups survive.
Acorns were the
major staple crop.
Abundant and more
nutritious than wheat.
Plenty of game
and fish.
Local Indians
Gabrielinos
(Tongva) survived on the rich ecology surrounding the Los Angeles river:
pronghorn antelope, salmon, steelhead trout, grizzly bears.
Chumash- Malibu
and Central CA
Cahuilla San
Bernadino
Warfare
rare, little
evidence for weapons or warfare
Villages
kinship groups of <130 people
Religion
shamanism/animism
Dress
Minimal, not
unlike Californians today.
Importance of
ceremonial dress, especially among northern tribes.
Pomo headress
Miwoks at Home (fig)
Housing Types
Various reflected
natural environment
Maidu Lodge (figure)
Art
Columbian Exchange
Animals:
Horses, Pigs(Old World),
Plants:
potatoes, corn, tobacco, tomatoes, chile peppers (from New World); wheat, rice
(from Old World)
Diseases:
Smallpox, Measles, Syphillis, Influenza
By
1911 there were about 20,000 Native Americans left in California.
Slavery
and Genocide: Spanish mission slavery, organized killings of Indians in 19th
century, slave labor in America until 1870s
Humboldt Indian Massacre 1 of 3
The
Indians are killing stock of the settlers in the back country and will continue
to do so until they are driven from that section, or exterminated. Wednesday
they killed two head of stock belonging to the brand of Larrabee
Humboldt Times, 2/25/1860
Within
days over two hundred elderly men, women, and children were slain during a
series of night raids on Indian Island conducted by some of the prominent men
of the county. Weapons of choice were knives and axes, useful for their
silence. The white owner of the island, a Mr. Gunther, was barely awakened.
Humboldt Indian Massacre
what a sight presented itself to our
eyes. Corpses lying all around, and all women and children, but two. Most of
them had their skulls split. One old Indian, who looked to be a hundred years old,
had his skull split, and still he sat there shivering.
Robert
Gunther, white owner of Indian Island, recounting his discovery of the
massacre.
Humboldt Indian Massacre
For
the past four years we have advocated two - and only two - alternatives for
ridding our country of Indians: either remove them to some reservation or kill
them
the bloody demonstrations on Indian Island
is proof that the time is
arrived when either the pale face or the savage must yield ground.
Humboldt
Times, March, 1860
There is no
public acknowledgement of the Indian massacre to this day in Humboldt County.
There is
virtually no acknowledgement of the Indian wars in the California state content
standards.
The Spanish Period
Exploration
begins in 1542 by Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo
1542: Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo arrives, along with Christianity and the horse, he brought
disease, slavery, and death. Indians came to be victims of progress.
Serra and de
Portola, Missions 1769-1823
Why the 200 year
wait?
