The Wiyot Tribe, California is a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

Wiyot people The Wiyot (Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-'at xee-she or Wee-yan' Xee-she', Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne – "Mad River People", Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a small su ...

. They are the aboriginal people of

Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay (Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Wigi'') is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast (California), North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, ...

, Mad River and lower Eel River of California. ''Four Directions Institute.'' Retrieved 29 Sept 2013."The Wiyot Tribe."
''Humboldt State University.'' Retrieved 29 Sept 2013. Other

are enrolled in the

Blue Lake Rancheria The Blue Lake Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Wiyot, Yurok, and Hupa Indians located northwest of the city of Blue Lake in Humboldt County, California, on approximately .

, Rohnerville Rancheria and Trinidad Rancherias.

Reservation

The Wiyot Tribe's land base includes two Reservations. Table Bluff Reservation and the Old Table Bluff Reservation are located 16 miles southwest of

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

. The new Table Bluff Reservation is 88-acres. The Old Table Bluff Reservation was established in 1908, when a church donated 20 acres of land to the Wiyot Tribe. The land was allotted to individuals. The Reservation was formally recognized by the government in 1981 and 102 acres was purchased for the tribe. The Reservation is located on Table Bluff in Humboldt County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It lies at an elevation of . The land is also known as the "Old Reservation" for the

Wiyot The Wiyot ( Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-'at xee-she or Wee-yan' Xee-she', Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne – "Mad River People", Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a small ...

. As of the 2010 Census the population was 103.

Government

The Wiyot Tribe is headquartered in Loleta, California. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected, seven-member tribal council. The current tribal administration is as follows: * Tribal Chair: Ted Hernandez * Vice Chairperson: Brian Mead * Secretary: Leona Wilkinson * Treasurer: Linda Lange * Councilperson: Kirsten Boyce * Councilperson: Hazel James.

Language

English is commonly spoken by the tribe. The

Wiyot language Wiyot (also Wishosk) or (lit. 'your jaw') is an Algic languageCampbell, Lyle (1997), p. 152 spoken by the Wiyot people of Humboldt Bay, California. The language's last native speaker, Della Prince, died in 1962. Classification Wiyot, a ...

belongs to the California branch of

Algic languages The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to ...

. The language is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, and a dictionary and grammar has been published for Wiyot. The last fluent speaker of Wiyot died in 1962.

History

Prior to European contact, Wiyot people numbered approximately 2,000. They first encountered Europeans in 1802. Non-native settlers overran Wiyote lands during the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

that started in 1849. Wiyots were killed in the

Rogue River Indian War The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue Valley area of what ...

in 1852. On 26 February 1860, as the Wiyot people were celebrating their world renewal ceremony, European-American people ambushed Wiyot elders, women, and children in the ( Wiyot Massacre, now known as the Indian Island Massacre) on what is now Tuluwat Island (previously Indian Island and Gunther Island). The young men were off collecting supplies for the next day's ceremony leaving the village defenseless, allowing for a group of men from Eureka (who had been planning the massacre) to row across the bay carrying silent weapons (to avoid alarming the nearby city). When the men came back, their families were piled up leaving only one survivor, a hidden infant. Two other villages were massacred that night. Post massacre numbers were estimated to be around 200.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Wiyot Tribe
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiyot Tribe Wiyot Native American tribes in California Federally recognized tribes in the United States 1908 establishments in California