California

Shasta Tribe

Shasta Indians (from Sǔsti’ka, apparently the mane of a well known Indian tribe living about 1840 near the site of Yreka).  A group of small tribes or divisions forming the Shastan linguistic family of north California and formerly extending into Oregon.  The area occupied by the Shasta is quite irregular, and consists of one main and three subsidiary areas.  The main body, comprising the Iruwaitsu, Kammatwa, Katiru, and Kikatsik, with whom there was little diversity in language, occupied Klamath river from Klamath Hot Springs to Happy Camp, the north half of Shasta valley, the whole of Scott valley, and the … Read more

California Indian Reservations

A list of California Indian reservations showing the Indian tribes the land was set aside for, the amount of acres if known, and the acts, treaties, and executive orders used to establish the reservation.

Karok Tribe

Karok Indians (Karok – karuk, ‘upstream’; they have no name for themselves other than that for ‘men’ or ‘people’, arar, whence Arra-arra, Ara-ara, etc.). The name by which the Indians of the Quoratean family have, as a tribe, been generally called. They lived on Klamath River from Redcap Creek to Indian Creek, north west California. Below them on the river were the Yurok, above them the Shasta, to their east were other Shasta tribes, while on the west they were separated by a spur of the Siskiyou Mountains from the Yurok and the Athapascan Tolowa. Salmon River, a tributary of … Read more

Maidu Tribe

Maidu Indians (‘man’, Indian’ ). A tribe formerly dwelling in Sacramento valley and the adjacent Sierra Nevada in California. This single tribe constitutes the entire Pujunan linguistic family of Powell, all the divisions of which called themselves Maidu, and distinguished themselves one from another by their local names only. The Maidu proper, comprising the divisions north of Bear river valley, were formerly considered a different stock from the Nishinam, who are now recognized as the southern branch of the family. The names of the Maidu villages and of the inhabitants were usually local place names. It maybe doubted if, in … Read more

Pueblo Family

Pueblo Indians, Pueblo Family – (towns, villages , so called on account of the peculiar style of compact permanent settlements of these people, as distinguished from temporary camps or scattered rancherias of less sub stantial houses). A term applied by the Spaniards and adopted by English-speaking people to designate all the Indians who lived or are living in permanent stone or adobe houses built into compact villages in south Colorado and central Utah, and in New Mexico, Arizona, and the adjacent Mexican territory, and extended sometimes to include the settlements of such tribes as the Pima and the Papago, who … Read more

Pomo Tribe

Pomo Indians, Poma Indians. The name of the Indian linguistic stock, technically known as Kulanapan, living in parts of Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Colusa, and Glenn Counties, California. In the northern Pomo dialect Pomo means ‘people,’ and added to a place name forms the name for a group of people. Although Poma is almost as frequently heard as Pomo, the latter has come into general use in both scientific and popular literature. The territory occupied by the Pomo is in two parts: a main area which extends, generally speaking, from west to east, from the coast to the crest of the … Read more

Mohave Tribe

Mohave Indians (from hamok ‘three’, avi ‘mountain’). The most populous and war like of the Yuman tribes. Since known to history they appear to have lived on both sides of the Rio Colorado, though chiefly on the east  side, between the Needles (whence their name is derived) and the entrance to Black Canyon. Ives, in 1857, found only a few scattered families in Cottonwood Valley, the bulk of their number being below Hardyville. In recent times a body of Chemehuevi have held the river between them and their kinsmen the Yuma. The Mohave are strong, athletic, and well developed, their … Read more

Modoc Tribe

Modoc Indians (from Móatokni, ‘southerners’). A Lutuamian tribe, forming the southern division of that stock, in south west Oregon. The Modoc language is practically the same as the Klamath, the dialectic differences being extremely slight. This linguistic identity would indicate that the local separation of the two tribes must have been comparatively recent and has never been complete. The former habitat of the Modoc included Little Klamath Lake, Modoc Lake, Tule Lake, Lost River Valley, and Clear Lake, and extended at times as far east as Goose Lake. The most important bands of the tribe were at Little Klamath Lake, … Read more

Mariposan Indians

Mariposan Family, Mariposan Tribes, Mariposan Stock, Yokuts Tribe, Yokuts Indians (adapted from Span. mariposa, ‘butterfly,’ the name of a county in California). The name applied by Powell to a linguistic stock of Indians, generally known as Yokuts, in San Joaquin valley, Cal. Their territory extended from the lower Sierra Nevada to the Coast range, and from mounts Pinos and Tehachapi to Fresno and Chowchilla Rivers. A separate body dwelt in the north, in a narrow strip of territory along the San Joaquin, between Tuolumne and Calaveras Rivers, about the site of Stockton. These were the Cholovone. The Coconoon, said to have … Read more

Chaushila Tribe

Chaushila Indians. A Yokuts (Mariposan) tribe in central California, north of Fresno River, probably on lower Chowchilla River, in the plains and lowest foothills, their neighbors on the north being of Moquelumnan stock. As a tribe they are now extinct. They are confused with, but are distinct from, the Chowchilla, under which name the synonymy of both is given.

Lutuamian Indians

Lutuamian Family. A linguistic family consisting of two branches, the Klamath and the Modoc, residing in south west Oregon east of the Cascade range and along the California border. Their former boundary extended from the Cascades to the headwaters of Pit and McCloud rivers, thence east to Goose lake, thence north to lat. 44°, and thence west to the Cascades. The more permanent settlements of the of family were on the shores of Klamath lakes, Tule lake, and Lost river, the remainder of the territory which they claimed being hunting ground.  In 1864 both divisions of the family entered into … Read more

Esselen Tribe

Esselen Indians. A tribe of Californian Indians, constituting the Esselenian family, most of the members of which on the founding of Carmelo mission, near Monterey, in 1770, were brought under civilizing influences, resulting, as was the case with the Indians at all the Californian missions, their rapid decrease . A portion of the tribe seems to have been taken, to the mission at Soledad, for Arroyo de la Cuesta in 1821 says of an Esselen vocabulary obtained by himself, “Huelel language of Soledad; it is from the Esselenes, who are already few.” The original territory of the Esselen lay along … Read more

Copehan Tribe

Copehan Indians, Copehan Family. A linguistic stock formerly occupying a large territory in California, from Suisun and San Pablo bays on the south to Mt Shasta and the country of the Shastan family on the north. Starting from the north, the east boundary ran a few miles east of McCloud river to its junction with the Sacramento and thence to Redding, a large triangle east of Sacramento river belonging to the Copehan; and from Redding down the boundary was about 10 miles east of Sacramento river, but south of Chico it was confined to the west bank. On the west … Read more

Wintun Tribe

Wintun Indians (‘Indians,’ ‘people’). One of the 2 divisions of the Copehan family, the other being the Patwin. The Wintun territory was bounded on the north by Mt Shasta and the domain of the Lutuamian and Shastan families; on the south by a line running from the east boundary, about 10 miles east of Sacramento river, due west through Jacinto and the headwaters of Stony creek, Colusa County, California, to Kulanapan territory. The east boundary began at the headwaters of Bear creek, bearing south some miles east of and parallel to McCloud river. From Pit river to the neighborhood of … Read more

Chumashan Family

Chumashan Family. A linguistic family on the coast of south California, known also as Santa Barbara Indians. Like most Californian aborigines, they appear to have lacked an appellation of general significance, and the term Chumash, the name of the Santa Rosa islanders, is arbitrarily chosen for convenience to designate the linguistic stock. Seven dialects of this family are known, those of San Luis Obispo, Purísima, Santa Inez, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura missions, and of Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. These are fairly similar except the San Luis Obispo, which stands apart. It is probable that there were other … Read more

Chimariko Tribe

Chimariko Indians (from Djimaliko, the name they apply to themselves; derived from (djimar ‘man’). A small tribe, comprising the Chimarikan family, formerly on Trinity River, near the mouth of New River, Northern California, extending from Hawkins Bar to about Big Bar, and probably along lower New River; they adjoined the Hupa downstream and the Wintun upstream. The Chimariko first became known to the whites on the influx of miners about 1850. They were then a small tribe, friendly with the Hupa and the neighboring Shastan tribes, but at war with the Wintun of Hay fork of Trinity River. In 1903 … Read more

Cosumni Tribe

Cosumni Indians. A tribe, probably Moquelumnan, formerly residing on or near Cosumnes River, San Joaquin County, California. According to Rice these Indians went almost naked; their houses were of bark, sometimes thatched with grass and covered with earth: the bark was loosened from the trees by repeated blows with stone hatchets, the latter having the head fastened to the handle with deer sinew. Their ordinary weapons were bows and stone-tipped arrows. The women made finely woven conical baskets of grass, the smaller ones of which held water. Their amusements were chiefly dancing and football; the dances, however, were in some … Read more

Coconoon Tribe

Coconoon Indians. A Yokuts tribe of California, said by Johnston in 1851 to live on the Merced River, with other bands, under their chief Nuella. There are the remnants of 3 distinct bands residing together