Awani Indians. A division of the Miwok living in Yosemite valley, Mariposa County, California. Powers states that the name Yosemite is a distorted form of the Miwok uzumaiti, ‘grizzly bear,’ a term never used by the Indians to designate the valley itself or any part of it. Awani, the name applied by the natives of the Valley, was the principal village, which by extension was given to the whole valley and its inhabitants, who occupied it when snow permitted. The Awani had 9 villages, containing 450 people, when the whites first came, and they seem to have had a larger number at an earlier period. At present the population is unknown, but small. Their villages were:
- Awani
- Hokokwito
- Kumaini
- Lesamaiti
- Macheto
- Notontidula
- Sakaya
- Wahaka
