Coast Miwok are an

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

that was the second-largest group of

Miwok The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ...

people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

and southern

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

, from the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...

north to

Duncans Point Duncans Point is a cape on the Pacific Coast of northern California in the United States. It is located in Sonoma County at , approximately northwest of San Francisco and approximately west of Santa Rosa. The point lies about halfway betwee ...

and eastward to

Sonoma Creek , name_etymology = , image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg , image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009 , image_size = 300 , ma ...

. Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok, or Olamentko (Olamentke), from authenticated Miwok villages around

Bodega Bay Bodega Bay ( es, Bahía Bodega) is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Ros ...

, the Marin Miwok, or Hookooeko (Huukuiko), and Southern Sonoma Miwok, or Lekahtewutko (Lekatuit). Coast_Miwok_tribelets

Culture

The Coast Miwok spoke their own

Coast Miwok language Coast Miwok was one of the Miwok languages spoken in California, from San Francisco Bay to Bodega Bay. The Marin and Bodega varieties may have been separate languages. All of the population has shifted to English. Grammar According to Catherine ...

in the

Utian Utian (also Miwok–Costanoan, previously Mutsun) is a family of indigenous languages spoken in Northern California, United States. The Miwok and Ohlone peoples both spoke languages of the Utian language family. It has recently been argued tha ...

linguistic group. They lived by

hunting and gathering A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

, and lived in small bands without centralized political authority. In the springtime they would head to the coasts to hunt

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

and other seafood, including seaweed. Otherwise their staple foods were primarily

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

s—particularly from

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

and

tan oak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Orego ...

–nuts and wild game, such as deer and

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are the leporid species in the genus ''Sylvilagus'', found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characteristic name. However, this ...

s and

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

, ''

Odocoileus hemionus columbianus Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all ...

'', a coastal subspecies of the

California mule deer The California mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus californicus'') is a subspecies of mule deer whose range covers much of the state of California. Anatomy One of the principal means of distinguishing the closely related black-tailed deer and whi ...

, ''

Odocoileus hemionus The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related w ...

''. When hunting deer, Miwok hunters traditionally used Brewer's angelica, '' Angelica breweri'' to eliminate their own scent. Miwok did not typically hunt bears.

Yerba buena Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. ''Yerba buena'' translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as ''yerba buena'' varies from region to regi ...

tea leaves were used medicinally. Tattooing was a traditional practice among Coast Miwok, and they burned

poison oak Poison oak refers to two plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron,'' both of which can cause skin irritation: *''Toxicodendron diversilobum'' or Western poison oak, found in western North America *''Toxicodendron pubescens ''Toxicodendron pub ...

for a pigment. Their traditional houses, called "kotcha", were constructed with slabs of tule grass or redwood bark in a cone-shaped form. Miwok people are skilled at

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

ry. A recreated Coast Miwok village called

Kule Loklo Kule Loklo ("Bear Valley") is a recreated Coast Miwok Native American village located a short walk from the visitor center of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, California. Kule Loklo was originally created in the 1970s by th ...

is located at the

Point Reyes National Seashore Point Reyes National Seashore is a park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve. Some existing agricult ...

Cultural subdivisions

C. Hart Merriam Clinton Hart Merriam (December 5, 1855 – March 19, 1942) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ecologist, ethnographer, geographer, naturalist and physician. He was commonly known as the 'father of mammalogy', a ...

's discussions with Coast Miwok peoples, he identified three cultural tribes: * Olamentko, pronounced O-la-MENT-ko (around Bodega Bay) and now called Olamentke * Lekahtewutko, pronounced Lek-KAH-te-WUT-ko (in south-central Sonoma County) and now called Lekatuit * Hookooeko, pronounced HOO-koo-EE-ko (in Marin County and southern Sonoma County), and now called Huukuiko, whom the Olamentko called Olumko, or "South People." These tribes did not have a political structure and so are not "tribes" in that sense. Rather, chiefs or headmen (''oi-bu'' in Olamentko and ''hoipu'' in Hookooeko) were empowered at the tribelet level. The Coast Miwok did not have a single name for all three tribes, describing themselves instead by tribe, tribelet, or village, depending on the context. Using Merriam's divisions, the tribelets as shown on the map to the right - itself derived from Milliken - can be classified as: * Olamentko ** Bodega Bay * Lekahtewutko ** Bloomfield * Hookooeko ** Alaguali ** Chocuyen ** Gualen ** Huimen ** Olema ** Olompali ** Omomi ** Petaluma (though Merriam puts the southernmost boundary of the Lekahtewutko a mile north of Petaluma and its associated villages, which is in the middle of Milliken's boundaries for this tribelet.) ** Tamal Aguasto (though the Tamal people lived in the Miller Creek watershed to the north in what is now Terra Linda and the Aguasto to the south, there was enough intermarriage in the early 19th Century that Milliken, the source of this article's map, lumps them into a single tribelet.) ** North Tomales Bay ** South Tomales Bay

Language

The

is still spoken, but the Bodega dialect, spoken by the Olamentko group, is documented in Callaghan (1970). From speaking with Coast Miwok people in the early 1900s, Merriam believed that the Lekahtewutko and Hookooeko dialects were substantially the same.

Religion

The original Coast Miwok people world view included

animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...

, and one form of this took was the

Kuksu religion Kuksu, was a religion in Northern California practiced by members within several Indigenous peoples of California before and during contact with the arriving European settlers. The religious belief system was held by several tribes in Central Cal ...

that was evident in Central and Northern California. This included elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty

rites of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

intervention with the spirit world and an all-male society that met in subterranean dance rooms.Kroeber, 1907, Vol. 4 #6, sections titled "Shamanism", "Public Ceremonies", "Ceremonial Structures and Paraphernalia", and "Mythology and Beliefs". Kuksu was shared with other indigenous ethnic groups of Central California, such as their neighbors the

Pomo The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small ...

, also

Maidu The Maidu are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather River, Feather and American River, American ...

Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

, Esselen, and northernmost

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 ...

. However Kroeber observed less "specialized

cosmogony Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used i ...

" in the Miwok, which he termed one of the "southern Kuksu-dancing groups", in comparison to the

and other northern California tribes. Coast Miwok

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

and narratives were similar to those of other natives of Central and Northern California. The Coast Miwok believed in animal and human spirits, and saw the animal spirits as their ancestors.

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

was seen as their ancestor and

creator god A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...

. In their case the Earth began with land formed out of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Traditional narratives

In their myths, legends, tales, and histories, the Coast Miwok participated in the general cultural pattern of Central California.

Authentic villages

The authenticated Coast Miwok villages are: *''On

'': Helapattai, Hime-takala, Ho-takala, Suwutenne, Tiwut-huya, Tokau. Also in this vicinity: Awachi (at the mouth of Estero Americano Creek), Amayelle (on San Antonio Creek), Kennekono (at Bodega Corners). *''On

Tomales Bay Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. It is approximately long and averages nearly wide, effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Mar ...

:'' Echa-kolum, Shotommo-wi (near the mouth of San Antonio Creek), Sakloki (opposite Tomales Point, Dillon Beach area), Utumia (Near present-day town of Tomales.) *''At the present-day City of Petaluma:'' Etem, Petaluma (east of River). Also in this vicinity: Tuchayelin (northwest), Likatiut (on

Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...

north of town), Meleya (on San Antonio Creek southwest of Petaluma), Susuli (northwest), Tulme (northwest), Wotoki (on the south side of the

). *''At the present-day City of San Rafael:'' Awani-wi. *''At the present-day City of Sonoma:'' Huchi. Also in this vicinity: Temblek (west), Tuli (northwest), Wugilwa (on

). *''At the present-day City of Cotati:'' Kotati, Lumen-takala (northeast). Also in this vicinity: Payinecha (west). *''At the present-day town of Nicasio:'' Echa-tamal. *''At the present-day town of Olema'': Olema-loke. *''At the present-day City of Sausalito'': Liwanelowa. *''Near the present-day town of Bolinas:'' Bauli-n *''Near the present-day town of Freestone:'' Oye-yomi, Pakahuwe, Patawa-yomi. *''Near the present-day town of Ignacio:'' Ewu, Puyuku (south), Shotokmo-cha (southeast). *''Near the present-day City of Novato:'' Chokeche, Olompolli (northwest). *''Near the present-day town of Valley Ford:'' Ewapalt, Uli-yomi (at the headwaters of Estero Americano Creek). *''Near the present-day town of Salmon Creek:'' Pulya-lakum (on the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

, near the mouth of Salmon Creek).

History

Tikhanov - Balthazar Inhabitant of Northern California (1818)

Documentation of Miwok peoples dates back as early as 1579 by a priest on a ship under the command of

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

. Other verification of occupancy exists from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n voyagers between 1595 and 1808.Cook, 1976.Silliman, 2004. Over 1000 prehistoric

charmstone A charmstone, charm-stone or charm stone is a stone or mineral artifact of various types associated with various traditional cultures, including those of Scotland and the native cultures of California and the American southwest. Typically they ...

s and numerous arrowheads have been unearthed at

Tolay Lake Tolay Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in southern Sonoma County, California, United States. The lake, nestled within the southern vestiges of the Sonoma Mountains, is the site of significant Native American prehistoric seasonal settlement. In ...

in Southern Sonoma County - some dating back 4000 years. The lake was thought to be a sacred site and ceremonial gathering and healing place for the Miwok and others in the region.''Tolay Lake Park: Natural and Cultural History''

, August 20, 2007. Coast Miwok would travel and camp on the coast and bays at peak fishing seasons. After the Europeans arrived in California, the population declined from diseases introduced by the Europeans. Beginning in 1783, mission ecclesiastical records show that Coast Miwok individuals began to join

Mission San Francisco de Asis Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity * Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

, now known as Mission Dolores. They started joining that mission in large numbers in 1803, when the marriages of 49 couples from their Huimen and Guaulen local tribes ( San Rafael and Bolinas Bay) appeared in the Mission San Francisco Book of Marriages. Local tribes from farther and farther north along the shore of San Pablo Bay moved to Mission San Francisco through the year 1812. Then in 1814 the Spanish authorities began to split the northern groups—Alagualis, Chocoimes (alias Sonomas), Olompalis, and Petalumas—sending a portion of each group to Mission San Francisco and another portion to Mission San Jose in the southeast portion of the San Francisco Bay Area. By the end of the year 1817, 850 Coast Miwok had been converted.Cook, 1976:182.

Mission San Rafael Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

was founded by the Spanish Franciscans in Coast Miwok territory in the late fall of 1817. By that time the only Coast Miwok people still on their land were those on the Pacific Coast of the Marin Peninsula, from

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often appli ...

north to

. The Spanish authorities brought most of the Coast Miwoks who had been at Missions San Francisco and San Jose back north to form a founding population for Mission San Rafael. But some who had married Ohlone or Bay Miwok-speaking Mission Indians remained south of the Golden Gate. Over time in the 1820s Mission San Rafael became a mission for Coast Miwok and Pomo speakers.

Mission San Francisco Solano Mission San Francisco Solano was the 21st, last, and northernmost mission in Alta California. It was named for Saint Francis Solanus. It was the only mission built in Alta California after Mexico gained independence from Spain. The difficulty o ...

, founded in 1823 in the Sonoma Valley (the easternmost traditional Coast Miwok region), came to be predominately a mission for Indians that spoke the Wappo or Patwin languages. At the end of the Mission period (1769–1834) the Coast Miwoks were freed from the control of the Franciscan missionaries. At the same time the Mission lands were secularized and ceded to

Californios Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californians, Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish language, Spanish-s ...

. Most Coast Miwok began to live in servitude on the ranchos for the new

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

owners, such as those who went to work for General Mariano G. Vallejo at

Rancho Petaluma Adobe Rancho Petaluma Adobe is a historic ranch house in Sonoma County, California. It was built from adobe bricks in 1836 by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was the largest privately owned adobe structure built in California and is the largest ...

. The ranch owners were dependent upon the labor pool of Indians with agricultural and ranching skills. Other Miwok chose to live independently in bands like those at

Rancho Olompali Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

and Rancho Nicasio. In 1837, a smallpox epidemic decimated all the native populations of the Sonoma region, and the Coast Miwok population continued to decline rapidly from other diseases brought in from the Spaniards as well as the Russians at

Fort Ross Fort Ross ( Russian: Форт-Росс, Kashaya ''mé·ṭiʔni''), originally Fortress Ross ( pre-reformed Russian: Крѣпость Россъ, tr. ''Krepostʹ Ross''), is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America i ...

. By the beginning of

statehood (1850), many Miwok of Marin and Sonoma Counties were making the best of a difficult situation by earning their livelihoods through farm labor or fishing within their traditional homelands. Others chose to work as seasonal or year-round laborers on the ranches that were rapidly passing from Mexican ownership into Anglo-American ownership.

Olompali and Nicasio

After Mission San Rafael closed during the 1834-1836 period, the Mexican government deeded most of the land to Californios, but allowed the Indians ex-neophytes to own land at two locations within traditional Coast Miwok territory: Olompali and

Nicasio Nicasio ( ; Spanish for " Nicasius") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. It is located west-southwest of Novato, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 census the CDP population w ...

. The Coast Miwok leader

Camilo Ynitia Camilo Ynitia (alternative spelling "Camillo"; original native name transliterated as "Hueñux") was born in 1803, in Marin County, southern Marin, of the Huiman tribe near Sausalito. They likely traveled up to Olompali, where his father had buil ...

, secured a land grant of 2 sq. leagues known as ''Rancho Olompali'', from Governor Micheltorena of

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

in 1843, which included the prehistoric Miwok village of Olompali (his home village) and is north of present-day

Novato Novato ( Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

. The village of Olompali dates back to 500, had been a main center in 1200, and might have been the largest native village in Marin County.Reutinger 1997. Ynitia held onto the ''Rancho Olompoli'' land title for 9 years, but in 1852 he sold most of the land to James Black of Marin. He retained called ''Apalacocha.'' His daughter eventually sold ''Apalacocha''. The other Indian-owned rancho was at ''Rancho Nicasio'' northwest of San Rafael. Near the time of secularization (1835), the Church granted the San Rafael Christian Indians 20 leagues (80,000 acres, 320 km²) of mission lands from present-day

to the Tomales Bay. About 500 Indians relocated to ''Rancho Nicasio''. By 1850 they had but one league of land left. This radical reduction of land was a result of illegal confiscation of land by non-Indians under protest by Indian residents. In 1870, José Calistro, the last community leader at Nicasio, purchased the small surrounding parcel. Calistro died in 1875, and in 1876 the land was transferred by his will to his four children. In 1880 there were 36 Indian people at Nicasio. The population was persuaded to leave in the 1880s when Marin County curtailed funds to all Indians (except those at

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

) who were not living at the Poor Farm, a place for "indigent" peoples.Goerke 2007 Some Coast Miwok persons were enslaved. In 1846, Joseph Warren Revere (career militant and grandson of

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to a ...

) purchased Rancho San Geronimo. It was 8,701 acres of Coast Miwok land, first seized by Manuel Micheltorena in 1844 during the

Mexican-American war Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...

. Revere forced enslaved Coast Miwok people to operate the plantation, selling timber and crops. By the early 20th century, a few Miwok families pursued fishing for their livelihoods; one family continued commercial fishing into the 1970s, while another family maintained an

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

harvesting business. When this activity was neither in season nor profitable, Indian people of this area sought agricultural employment, which required an

itinerant An itinerant is a person who travels habitually. Itinerant may refer to: *"Travellers" or itinerant groups in Europe * Itinerant preacher, also known as itinerant minister *Travelling salespeople, see door-to-door, hawker, and peddler *Travelli ...

lifestyle. The preferred locality for such work was within Marin and Sonoma counties.

Recognition

The

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by th ...

, formerly the Federated Coast Miwok, gained federal recognition of their tribal status in December 2000. The new tribe consists of people of both Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo descent.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. ''(See

Population of Native California The population of Native California refers to the population of Indigenous peoples of California. Estimates prior to and after European contact have varied substantially. Pre-contact estimates range from 133,000 to 705,000 with some recent schol ...

.)''

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the first ...

put the 1770 population of the Coast Miwok at 1,500.

Sherburne F. Cook Sherburne Friend Cook (1896-1974) was an American physiologist, who served as professor and chairman of the department of physiology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was notable as a pioneer in population studies of the native peopl ...

raised this figure to 2,000. The population in 1848 was estimated as 300, and it had dropped to 60 in 1880.

Notable Coast Miwoks

* José Calistro, was the last community leader at Nicasio. *

Chief Marin Chief Marin (c. 1781 – March 15, 1839) was the "great chief of the tribe ''Licatiut''" (a branch of Coast Miwok native to present-day Marin County, California), according to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, General Vallejo's semi-historical report to ...

was a Coast Miwok of the Huimen local tribe, baptized at around age 20 in 1801Goerke, Betty. 2007. ''Chief Marin, Leader, Rebel, and Legend: A History of Marin County's Namesake and his People''. Berkeley: Heyday Books. at Mission San Francisco and noted as an ''

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

'' at Mission San Rafael in the 1820s. He died on March 15, 1839.

and the

Marin Islands The Marin Islands are two small islands, named East Marin and West Marin, in San Rafael Bay, an embayment of San Pablo Bay in Marin County, California. Geography The Marin Islands are located offshore from the city of San Rafael, in the north ...

are named in his honor.Teather, 1986 He was the "great chief of the tribe ''Licatiut''", according to General Vallejo's semi-historical report to the first California State Legislature (1850). He was likely, then, of the Lekahtewutko from southern Sonoma County. * Quintin, was renowned as the sub-chief of Marin and skipper at Mission Dolores, according to General Vallejo.

San Quentin San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the o ...

Peninsula (1840) is reputed to be named after him.

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

was added much later. *

Julia F. Parker Julia Florence Parker (born February 1928) is a Coast Miwok- Kashaya Pomo basket weaver. Parker studied with some of the leading 20th century indigenous Californian basketweavers: Lucy Telles (Yosemite Miwok-Mono Lake Paiute); Mabel McKay, ( ...

, notable basket weaver. * Ponponio (aka Pomponio) was baptized in 1803 at around age four at Mission San Francisco. He was a leader of a band of Native American fugitives in California who called themselves ''Los Insurgentes''. Evading authorities, he was eventually captured in Marin County, and executed in Monterey in 1824. *

Greg Sarris Gregory Michael Sarris (born February 12, 1952) is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (since 1992), the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, where he t ...

is the current Tribal Chairman of the

, also a college professor and author. * William Smith was born a Bodega Bay Coast Miwok (Olamentko), was forced relocation to Lake County during the late 19th century, but returned to

where he and his relatives founded the commercial fishing industry in the area. *

Tsupu Tsupu (–1890), also known as Wild Cucumber, Maria Chekka, and Maria Chica, was a Coast Miwok elder. She was the last native of the ancient village of Petaluma, which was east of the Petaluma River and about three and a half miles northeast of the ...

, a Coast Miwok elder *

(1816–1856) was a Coast Miwok leader who became the owner of an land grant secured for the Miwok, named ''Rancho Olompali,'' now the Olompali State Historic Park. Ynitia also forged a ranch labor-alliance with General Vallejo, and secured semblance of peace with the white settlers (about 1830s-1840s).Teather has full name and acreage

Notes

References

* Cook, Sherburne. 1976. ''The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization''. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. . * Goerke, Betty. 2007. ''Chief Marin, Leader, Rebel, and Legend: A History of Marin County's Namesake and his People''. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books. * Kroeber, Alfred L. 1907. ''The Religion of the Indians of California'', ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 4:#6. Berkeley, sections titled "Shamanism", "Public Ceremonies", "Ceremonial Structures and Paraphernalia", and "Mythology and Beliefs"; available a
Sacred Texts Online
* Lightfoot, Kent and Otis Parrish
''California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction.''
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. . * Milliken, Randall. 1995. ''A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1910.'' Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication. . * Milliken, Randall. 2008. ''Native Americans at Mission San Jose.'' Banning, CA: Malki-Ballena Press Publication. . * Reutinger, Joan.

'', The Coastal Post, Sept. 1997. * Silliman, Stephen. 2004. ''Lost Laborers in Colonial California, Native Americans and the Archaeology of Rancho Petaluma''. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. . * Shumway, Burgess M. 1988. ''California Ranchos: Patented Private Land Grants Listed by County.'' San Bernardino, CA: The Borgo Press. . * Teather, Louise. ''Place Names of Marin''. San Francisco, CA: Publisher Scottwall Associates, 1986. .

External links

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Web SiteKule Loklo (Bear Valley) Coast Miwok villageMiwok Archeological Preserve of Marin
(map after Kroeber)
Coast Miwok Tribal Council of Marin Web Site
{{Populations of Native California Groups Native American tribes in Sonoma County California Mission Indians History of Sonoma County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area History of Marin County, California Miwok