The Chochenyo (also called Chocheño, Chocenyo) are one of the divisions of the indigenous
Ohlone (Costanoan) people of
Northern California. The Chochenyo reside on the east side of the
San Francisco Bay (the
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...
), primarily in what is now
Alameda County
Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...
, and also
Contra Costa County, from the
Berkeley Hills
The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la ...
inland to the western
Diablo Range
The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...
.
![Alisal_Rancheria_women](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Alisal_Rancheria_women.png)
''
Chochenyo'' (also called ''Chocheño'' and ''East Bay Costanoan'') is also the name of their spoken language,
one of the Costanoan dialects in the
Utian family. Linguistically, Chochenyo,
Tamyen
The Tamien people (also spelled as ''Tamyen'', ''Thamien'') are one of eight linguistic divisions of the Ohlone (Costanoan) people groups of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. The Tamien traditionally lived throughout the Santa ...
(also Tamien) and
Ramaytush
The Ramaytush or Rammay-tuš people are a linguistic subdivision of the Ohlone people of Northern California. The term Ramaytush was first applied to them in the 1970s, but the modern Ohlone people of the peninsula have claimed it as their ethn ...
are thought to be close dialects of a single language.
The Ohlone tribes were
hunter-gatherers who moved into the San Francisco Bay Region around 500 CE, displacing earlier
Esselen people. In Chochenyo territory, datings of the ancient Newark,
West Berkeley, and
Emeryville Shellmound
The Emeryville Shellmound, in Emeryville, California, is a sacred burial site of the Ohlone people, a once-massive archaeological shell midden deposit (dark, highly organic soil, temple and burial ground containing a high concentration of human ...
s attest to people residing in the Bay Area since
4000 BCE.
Chochenyo territory was bordered by the
Karkin to the north (at
Mount Diablo
Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of , visible from most ...
), the
Tamyen
The Tamien people (also spelled as ''Tamyen'', ''Thamien'') are one of eight linguistic divisions of the Ohlone (Costanoan) people groups of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. The Tamien traditionally lived throughout the Santa ...
to the south and southwest, the San Francisco Bay to the west, and overlapped a bit with the
Bay Miwok
The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating ...
and
Yokuts
The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. ''Yokuts ...
to the east.
![West Berkeley shellmound](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/West_Berkeley_shellmound.jpg)
During the California Mission Era, the Chochenyos moved en masse to the
Mission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...
(founded in 1776) in San Francisco, and
Mission San José Mission San José may refer to:
*Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California
* Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood
* Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California
*Mission San José ...
of Fremont (founded in 1797). Most moved into one of these missions and were baptized, lived and educated to be Catholic ''neophytes'', also known as
Mission Indians
Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...
, until the missions were discontinued by the Mexican Government in 1834. Then the people found themselves landless. A large majority of the Chochenyo died from disease in the missions and shortly thereafter, only a fragment remaining by 1900. The speech of the last two native speakers of Chochenyo was documented in the 1920s in the unpublished fieldnotes of the
Bureau of American Ethnology linguist
John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which h ...
.
Today, the Chochenyo have joined with the other San Francisco Bay Area Ohlone people under the name of the
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. As of 2007, Muwekma Ohlone were petitioning for U.S. federal recognition.
Chochenyo tribes and villages
The East Bay and eastward mountain valleys were populated with dozens of Chochenyo tribes and villages. See:
*
Ohlone tribes and villages, East Bay Area
See also
*
Sogorea Te Land Trust
The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an urban land trust founded in 2012 with the goals of returning traditionally Chochenyo and Karkin lands in the San Francisco Bay Area to indigenous stewardship and cultivating more active, reciprocal relationships ...
*
Chochenyo Park
References
* Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Washington, D.C: ''Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin'' No. 78. (map of villages, page 465)
* Milliken, Randall. ''A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1910'' Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1995. (alk. paper)
* Milliken, Randall. ''Native Americans at Mission San Jose'' Banning, CA: Malki-Ballena Press Publication, 2008. (alk. paper)
* Teixeira, Lauren. ''The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area, A Research Guide''. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1997. .
External links
Chochenyo revival ("Release")Chochenyo revitalization – language at UCB "Faith in Words" 2004archived version
Chochenyo language
overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe website
Muwekma request for federal tribal recognition Court opinion 9/21/06
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Ohlone
Native American tribes in California
California Mission Indians
History of Alameda County, California
History of Contra Costa County, California
Berkeley Hills
Diablo Range
Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area
History of the San Francisco Bay Area