Native American - California Travel and Tourism Commission

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Native Californians Today

Although Native Americans make up less than one percent of the total population, California is home to more tribes than any other state. California’s native people are increasingly active in reviving and preserve their languages, traditions, and culture.

Explore Native California history at the following museums:

Antelope Valley Indian Museum (Lancaster, reopens Spring 2009)
Barona Museum (Lakeside)
California State Indian Museum (Sacramento)
Indian Heritage Center (Sacramento)
Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum (Tahoe City)
Oakland Museum of California
Southwest Museum of the American Indian (Los Angeles, reopens Spring 2009)

Indian casinos have helped advance many California tribes, providing recreation for the state’s residents, as well as jobs, visibility, political leverage, and reliable funding for education and other community initiatives.

Pre-1769

For thousands of years before European explorers arrived in the 1500s, California was home to more than 300,000 Native Californians, belonging to over 150 tribes and speaking at least 64 different languages. No one knows for sure when they first came to California, but it’s likely to have been over 12,000 years ago. Archaeological excavations at Grover Hot Springs, just west of Markleeville, and Anza-Borrego Desert state parks are uncovering artifacts of these prehistoric people. The Maidu Interpretive Center and Historic Site in Roseville contains ancient rock art, other artifacts, and exhibits about the Maidu people.

European explorers made peaceful initial contacts. The Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego marks the spot where Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo first landed and was greeted by locals in 1542.

1769: The Missions

Spain launched a colonization effort in 1769 to establish missions and settlements along the coast. The Spanish wanted to Christianize Native Californians and replace their self-sufficient way of life with one dependent upon trade with colonial Spain.

The Indians resisted the missions in various ways, but the Europeans’ guns and diseases devastated local tribes. Additionally, domesticated livestock from the missions ate, pushed out, and destroyed native plants and animals that indigenous Californians had depended on for food, resulting in poor nutrition and forced dietary changes. Estimates suggest that the native population reduced by half between 1769 and 1848.

1849: The Gold Rush

During the Gold Rush, Native Californians struggled to survive and preserve their culture while immigrants from all over the world flooded into their former home. Indians still succumbed to disease and malnutrition, but were also victims of various forms of slavery and genocide. Native population reduced further from an estimated 150,000 in 1846 to just 30,000 by 1870.

Once California became a state in 1850, it began to exile Native Californians to reservations, where many still live today.