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'' is both plural and singular, ''Yokut'', while common, is erroneous. 'Yokut' should only be used when referring specifically to the Tachi Yokut Tribe of Lemoore, CA. Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names; they reject the term ''Yokuts,'' saying that it is an exonym invented by English-speaking settlers and historians. Conventional sub-groupings include the Foothill Yokuts, Northern Valley Yokuts, and Southern Valley Yokuts.Pritzker, 211

History

Another name used to refer to the Yokuts was Mariposans. The word Yokuts itself means people; the Yokuts are a peaceful people. There are many stories, depending on the tribe, on how the yokut and their land came to be but most follow a similar form.

The creation story- Once the world was completely covered in water. Then came an eagle and a crow. As they were flying they came upon a duck and asked the duck to bring up mud from the water so there can be land again. The duck did as he was asked and this mud became the land of the Yokuts. More specifically the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Coast Mountain Range. To this day the crow and the eagle continue to be symbolic figures in Yokuts religious ceremonies.

Pre-Contact

Yokuts life was rather peaceful, there were about 50 sub-tribes with up to 350 people in each tribe. In Yokuts culture men and women had different responsibilities. Men usually did the hunting, fishing, and building while the women gathered, maintained the home, and cared for the children. Divorce was not difficult to achieve and could be done for a number of reasons including affairs, laziness, and infertility.

Art Expression among the Yokuts included music, singing, and painting. Basket making was also a way for the Yokuts to show their artistic skills by weaving designs and images into the baskets. Other forms of expression were done on the bodies of the Yokuts, such as tattoos and piercings.

The Yokuts had two important religious ceremonies they partook in, the annual Mourning rite and the First Fruit rite. Shamans were important to the Yokuts as they were believed to have supernatural powers, helped conduct ceremonies, and were able to treat the sick. However, shamans were able to use their power for good or evil and depending on how they used their power they could be executed.

During Contact

The first time the Yokuts encountered Europeans was in 1772, when Spanish troops were in the area searching for soldiers. In the 19th century Missions were introduced by the Spanish and as they expanded they forced the Yokuts to work the land for farming. The harsh working conditions along with disease and abuse led to the death of many Indians. With their work force dwindling the missions moved further inland forcing those they encountered to convert and work.

In 1833, malaria was brought by British fur traders, spreading through the native population through their use of the sweat houses. This decrease in population left the Yokuts weak in numbers when gold was discovered bringing with it more foreigners.

Gold was discovered in California in 19th century. The 1850s were a devastating time for California Indians due to the incursion of European American settlers into their homelands, who enslaved or killed the natives in great number. The Gold rush left the Yokuts with no land and a large decrease in their population. In 1853 malaria spread once again among the Yokuts killing more natives, by 1854 what was left of the Yokuts tribe were forced to move to the Fort Tejon Reservation. A few years later the reservation was attacked by white vigilantes who killed most of the inhabitants and by 1859 the reservation was completely abandoned. The Tule reservation was established in 1873 and many Yokuts moved to that reservation. Disease, violence, and relocation severely diminished the Yokut population so much that today their numbers do not even come close to what they once were.

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially (See Population of Native California). Alfred L. Kroeber in 1925 put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000.

Several subsequent investigators suggested that the total should be substantially higher. Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser 1980 suggested that the Yokuts had numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in pre-contact North America.

The federal government, which had recently acquired California after defeating Mexico in the Mexican War, signed a treaty (one of eighteen such treaties signed state-wide, setting aside seven and a half percent of California's land area) defining a proposed reservation and two hundred head of cattle per year.

The US Senate failed to ratify any of the eighteen treaties in a secret vote cast on July 8, 1852, with every member either abstaining or voting no. The result of the vote was not made public until 1905. The newly organized state government took a different approach. In 1851, California Governor Peter Burnett said that unless the Indians were moved east of the Sierras, ‘a war of extermination would continue to be waged until the Indian race should become extinct.'

Over the course of the next 50 years, settlers and eventually the California State Militia would wage war on the Yokuts and other native tribes in what became known as the Californian Genocide. The Yokuts were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900, with many of the survivors being forced into indentured servitude sanctioned by the California State Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. A few Valley Yokuts remain, the most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi. Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokuts in 1910 as 600.

Today about 2000 Yokuts are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe. An estimated 600 Yokuts are said to belong to unrecognized tribes.

Territory

Yokuts tribes populated the San Joaquin Valley, from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ("the delta") south to Bakersfield and the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which lies to the east.

In the northern half of the Yokuts region, some tribes inhabited the foothills of the Coast Range to the west. There is evidence of Yokuts inhabiting the Carrizo Plain and creating rock art in the Painted Rock area.

Language

According to San Diego State University, the Yokutsan languages are members of the Penutian language family.

Diet

Yokuts used spears, basket traps, and assorted other tools to hunt a variety of local animals, such as game birds, waterfowl, rabbits, turtles, various fish, mussels, and wasp grubs. Big game was hunted less frequently, but included deer, elk, and antelope. Their staple food was derived from acorn mash, though they also gathered tule roots and iris bulbs to make flour. Other foraged food includes manzanita berries, pine nuts, and seeds. They used a form of horticulture to cultivate tobacco. Salt came from salt grass.

Communities

Yokuts bands

* Gashowu
* Choinumni
* Chukchansi ( Mono language name: ''wowa'')
* Lakisamni
* Tachi tribe (Tache)
* Wukchumni
* Chaushila (Chowchilla)

Contemporary tribes

* Santa Rosa Rancheria (Tachi)
* Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians
* Table Mountain Rancheria (Mono)
* Tejon Indian Tribe of California
* Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River ReservationPritzker, 159
* Tuolumne Rancheria

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