Historical California - California Social Studies Historical Framework

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Different Tribes in California

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Southern California presents a varied and somewhat unique region of the state. Beginning in the north, tribes found in this area are the Chumash, Alliklik, Kitanemuk, Serrano, Gabrielino Luiseno Cahuilla, and the Kumeyaay. The landmass and climate varied considerably from the windswept offshore Channel Islands that were principally inhabited by Chumash speaking peoples. Communication with their mainland neighbors was by large and graceful planked canoes powered by double paddle ores. These vessels were called “Tomols” and manufactured by a secretive guild of craftsmen. They could carry hundreds of pounds of trade goods and up to a dozen passengers. Like their northern neighbors, the Tactic speaking peoples of San Nicholas and Santa Catalina Islands built planked canoes and actively traded rich marine resources with mainland villages and tribes. Shoreline communities enjoyed the rich animal and faunal life of ocean, bays and wetlands environments. Interior tribes like the Serrano, Luiseno, Cahuilla, and Kumeyaay shared an environment rich in Sonoran life zone featuring vast quantities of rabbit, deer and an abundance of acorn, seeds and native grasses. At the higher elevations Desert Bighorn sheep were hunted.

Villages varied in size from poor desert communities with villages of as little as 100 people to the teaming Chumash villages with over a thousand inhabitants. Conical homes of arroweed, tule or croton were common, while whale bone structures could be found on the coast and nearby Channel Islands. Interior groups manufactured clay storage vessels sometimes decorated with paint. Baskets were everywhere manufactured with unique designs. Catalina Island possessed a soapstone or steatite quarry. This unique stone was soft and could easily be carved with cutting tools and shaped into vessels, pipes and cooking slabs.

Each tribe and community had a chieftain, sometimes females, whose duty it was to organize community events and settle conflicts among their followers. This leader was usually assisted by a crier or assistant, Shaman or Indian doctors were known everywhere and greatly respected. The ritual use of the hallucinogen jimsonweed (Datura meteloides) was primarily in male puberty rituals. Like other California Indian communities, society was divided into three classes, the elite, a middle class and finally a less successful lower class. These robust peoples were among the first to encounter the strangers who would change their world forever.

Read More on the CA Native American History Commission

http://nahc.ca.gov/native-americans/ Maps of Tribes

The story of California begins in pre-Columbian times, in the cultures of the American Indians who lived here before Europeans arrived. The history of California then becomes the story of successive waves of immigrants from the sixteenth century through modern times and the enduring marks each left on the character of the state. Throughout their study of California history, students grapple with questions to understand the impact of (im)migration to California.
Why did different groups of immigrants decide to move to California? What were their experiences like when they settled in California? How were they treated when they arrived in California?
Immigrants to explore include:(1) the Spanish explorers, Indians from northern Mexico, Russians, and the Spanish–Mexican settlers of the mission and rancho period, known as Californios, who introduced European plants, agriculture, and a herding economy to the region; (2) the Americans who settled in California, established it as a state, and developed mining, trade in animal hides, industries, and an agricultural economy; (3) the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, South Asians (predominantly Sikhs), and other immigrants of the second half of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth who provided a new supply of labor for California’s railroads, agriculture, and industry and contributed as entrepreneurs and innovators, especially in agriculture; (4) the immigrants of the twentieth century, including new arrivals from Latin America and Europe; and (5) the many immigrants arriving today from Latin America, the nations of the Pacific Basin and Europe, and the continued migration of people from other parts of the United States. Because of their arrival, primarily because of the slave trade, people of African descent have been present throughout much of California’s history, contributing to the Spanish exploration of California, the Spanish– Mexican settlement of the region, and California’s subsequent development throughout the centuries.