All about the ancient tribes
What is the history of the California Indians?
The Spanish established pueblos (towns) and presidios (forts) for protection. The natives lived in the missions until their religious training was complete. Then, they would move to homes outside of the missions.
As the English, French, and Spanish explorers came to North America, they brought tremendous changes to American Indian tribes. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, and even chicken pox proved deadly to American Indians. Europeans were used to these diseases, but Indian people had no resistance to them.
Early Native Californians were hunter-gatherers, with seed collection becoming widespread around 9,000 BC. Due to the local abundance of food, tribes never developed agriculture or tilled the soil. Two early southern California cultural traditions include the La Jolla Complex and the Pauma Complex, both dating from c.
The Spanish attitude toward the Indians was that they saw themselves as guardians of the Indians basic rights. The Spanish goal was for the peaceful submission of the Indians. The laws of Spain controlled the conduct of soldiers during wars, even when the tribes were hostile.
They adapted to their resources by using obsidian to make arrow heads which they used to hunt deer,small animals, quail,and fish. They also ground acorns into flower.
In fact, the initial reception of the Franciscans by the California Indians was anything but hospitable. Resistance to the Spanish Franciscans was organized by village chiefs and influential shamans and this resistance was expressed through attacks on both the Spanish soldiers and the Franciscan missionaries.
They established missions to convert Native Americans to Christianity, pueblos, or towns for the Spanish settlers, and ranchos, large land grants for agricultural development. The Spanish impact on California can still be seen in many ways in California.
The Spanish sought a way to legally obtain the fertile lands of indigenous peoples, marrying the indigenous women of those lands. At that time there were indigenous people who thought that the Spanish were handsome because they were new, exotic and foreign. 10
The first would be to convert natives to Christianity. The second would be to pacify the areas for colonial purposes. A third objective was to acculturate the natives to Spanish cultural norms so that they could move from mission status to parish status as full members of the congregation.
The homes of the California Indians included wigwams and wickiups. The Religion, Ceremonies and Beliefs were based on Animism. Animism was a commonly shared doctrine, or belief, of the indigenous people of North America and Canada including the California Indian tribes.
California Indians ate many different plant foods; such as acorns, mushrooms, seaweed, and flowering plants. Seeds, berries, nuts, leaves, stems and roots were all parts of plants that were eaten.
The friendly relations between the Spanish and native peoples were short-lived, as the natives began to distrust the settlers. Throughout the Americas, European explorers and settlers brought disease and disruption to native peoples.