Wikipedia

Yokuts

Not to be confused withYakuts.
For the language, seeYokuts language.

TheYokuts(previously known asMariposas[4]) are anethnic groupofNative Americansnative to centralCalifornia.Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages.Yokutsis both plural and singular;Yokut,while common, is erroneous.[5]'Yokut' should only be used when referring specifically to the Tachi Yokut Tribe ofLemoore.Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names; they reject the termYokuts,saying that it is anexonyminvented by English-speaking settlers and historians. Conventional sub-groupings include the Foothill Yokuts, Northern Valley Yokuts, andSouthern Valley Yokuts.[6]

Yokuts
Chukchansi Yokuts woman,
photo byEdward Curtis,1924
Total population
6,273 alone and in combination[1](2010)
Regions with significant populations
United StatesUnited States(CaliforniaCalifornia)
Languages
English,Yokuts language[2]
Religion
traditional tribal religion,Christianity,Kuksu religion,[3]previouslyGhost Dance[3]
Related ethnic groups
Maidu,Miwok,Ohlone,andWintupeoples

History

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Map of traditional Yokuts territory

Another name used to refer to the Yokuts was Mariposans.[7]Theendonym"Yokuts" itself means "people."[8]There are many stories, depending on the tribe, on how the Yokuts and their land came to be but most follow a similar form.[9]

Their creation story is such: 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 theSierra Nevadaand theCoast Mountains.[10]To this day the crow and the eagle continue to be symbolic figures in Yokuts religious ceremonies.[10]

Pre-contact

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Yokuts life was rather peaceful. There were more than 60 tribes with an estimated 400-600 or more people in each tribe at the time of contact with theSpaniardsin 1770.[11]In Yokuts culture, men and women had different responsibilities.[12]Men usually did the hunting, fishing, and building while the women gathered, maintained the home, and cared for the children.[13]Divorce was not difficult to achieve and could be done for a number of reasons, including affairs, laziness, and infertility.[12]

Artistic expression among the Yokuts included music, singing, and painting.[12]Basket making was also a way for the Yokuts to show their artistic skills by weaving designs and images into the baskets.[12]Other forms of expression were done on the bodies of the Yokuts, such as tattoos and piercings.[12]

The Yokuts partook in two important religious ceremonies, the annual mourning rite and the first fruit rite.[12]Shamans were important to the Yokuts as they were believed to have supernatural powers, helped conduct ceremonies, and were able to treat the sick.[12]However, shamans were able to use their power for good or evil, and depending on how they used their power they could be executed.[12]

During contact

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The first time the Yokuts encountered Europeans was in 1772, when Spanish troops were in the area searching for soldiers.[10][12]In the 19th century,missionswere introduced by the Spaniards and as they expanded they forced the Yokuts to work the land for farming.[10]The harsh working conditions along with disease and abuse led to the death of many Yokuts.[10]With their work force dwindling the missions moved further inland forcing those they encountered to convert and work.[10]

In 1833,malariawas brought by British fur traders, spreading through the native population through their use of the sweat houses.[10]This decrease in population left the Yokuts weak in numbers when gold was discovered, bringing with it more foreigners.[10]

Gold was discovered in California in 19th century.[10]The 1850s were a devastating time for California Indians due to the incursion of European settlers into their homelands, who enslaved or killed the natives in great number. Thegold rushleft the Yokuts with no land and a large decrease in their population.[14]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.[10]A few years later, the reservation was attacked by white vigilantes, leaving most of the inhabitants dead. By 1859, the reservation was completely abandoned.[10]The Tule reservation was established in 1873 and many Yokuts moved to that reservation.[10]Disease, violence, and relocation severely diminished the Yokuts population so much that today their numbers do not even come close to what they once were.[12]

Population

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A Chukchansi (then spelled "Chuckachancy" ) family near Oakhurst, California. ca.1920

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially (SeePopulation of Native California).Alfred L. Kroeberin 1925[15]put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000.

Several subsequent investigations suggested that the total should be substantially higher.[16]Robert F. Heizerand Albert B. Elsasser 1980[17]suggested that the Yokuts had numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in pre-contact North America.[2]

The federal government, which had recently acquired California after defeating Mexico in theMexican–American 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.[18]

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 GovernorPeter Burnettsaid 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".[19]

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 theCalifornia genocide.The Yokuts were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900, with many of the survivors being forced intoindentured servitudesanctioned by the so-called "California StateAct for the Government and Protection of Indians".A few Valley Yokuts remain, the most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi Yokut. Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokuts in 1910 as 600.

Today about 2,000 Yokuts are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe. An estimated 600 Yokuts are said to belong to unrecognized tribes.[2]

Territory

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Yokuts tribes populated theSan Joaquin Valley,[2]from theSacramento-San Joaquin River Delta( "the delta" ) south toBakersfieldand the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which lies to the east.Tulare Lakewas a population center for the Yokuts tribes until they were driven off by white settlers. "..In 1858 or 1859, settlers beganethnically cleansingTulare Lake, by killing or forcibly relocating the majority of theYokutspopulation. Severe floods in 1861 and 1867 killed thousands of cattle and caused settlers to request further dams on the inflows to Tulare Lake. From 1875 to 1877, large numbers of hogs and cattle were carried to Skull Island from the mainland on theMose Andross.[20] Presumably the last autonomous Indigenous people lived at the Tulare Lake archipelago in the 1870s. Yoimut detailed white settlers introducing cattle to the island and subsequently forcing the indigenous people out:

While we were at Chawlowin some white men put cattle on the island. The water was low and they drove them across from the east. There were hogs there already, but they were wild. As soon as the white people found out we were there we began to have trouble. The tules were getting dry and we were afraid the white people would burn us out. So we all left. My mother and stepfather took us to Téjon Ranch. We went in his brother's little wagon.[21]

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 theCarrizo Plainand creatingrock artin thePainted Rockarea.

Language

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According toSan Diego State University,theYokutsan languagesare members of thePenutian language family.[2]

Diet

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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 fromsalt grass.[22]

Communities

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Yokuts tribes[23]

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Mariposa Indian Encampment Yosemite Valley California, byAlbert Bierstadt

Delta Yokuts

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Northern Valley Yokuts

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  • Hulpumne -ByrontoTassajara.
  • Cholbumne - Byron to just south ofTracy,includingLivermore Valley,Altamont,Patterson, and Corral Hollow passes.
  • Hoyumne - West of San Joaquin River and south of Tracy. Exact location unknown.
  • Miumne -Orestimba CreekBasin extending south to theGarzas CreekBasin and east to the San Joaquin River.
  • Kahwatchwah - San Joaquin River around theMendota,Firebaugh,andLos Banosareas.
  • Honoumne - West of the San Joaquin River between the Kahwatchwah and the Miumne.
  • Tucuyu - South of the Kahwatchwah onFresnoand Fish Sloughs.
  • Walakumne - Between the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers.
  • Suenumne - Lower Stanislaus River.
  • Tuolumne - Lower Stanislaus River.
  • Ausumne - LowerMerced River.
  • Chulumne - Sand plains southwest of Stockton and opposite the Yachicumne.
  • Chauchela (Chowchilla) -Chowchilla Riverfrom the San Joaquin River to the Sierra Nevada foothills.
  • Heuche -Fresno River,from its junction with the San Joaquin River to the foothills.
  • Hoyumne - San Joaquin River fromHerndonto Cottonwood Creek (Friant Dam). Shares name with Yokuts tribe south of Tracy.
  • Pitkache (Pitkachi) - San Joaquin River from Mendota Pool to Herndon.

Southern Valley Yokuts

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  • Tache (Tachi)- North and west shores ofTulare Lake,includingKettleman Hillsand Kettleman Plains.
  • Apiche - North of Murphy Slough (lowerKings Riverdrainage).
  • Wimilche - Along the north bank of the Kings River nearLatondownstream to Fresno Slough.
  • Nutúnutu - Along the south bank of the Kings River near Laton downstream to Fresno Slough.
  • Itecha (Aitecha) - South bank of Kings River nearSanger.Across river and upstream from the Wéchikit, downstream from the Choinumne.
  • Wéchikit - North bank of Kings River east of Sanger downstream to theReedleyarea, including parts of Wahtoke Creek.
  • Chunut - Northeastern shore of Tulare Lake and along the lower channels of the southern branches of theKaweah River.
  • Talumne - AlongCross,Mill,andPackwoodCreeks (lower Kaweah River delta), centered aroundVisalia.
  • Gáwea - North bank of the Kaweah River fromTerminus DamtoVenice Hills.
  • Yokodo - South bank of the Kaweah River fromExeterto the foothills.
  • Wólase - Area aroundCameron Creek(lower Kaweah River delta) east of Visalia.
  • Choinok - Junction of Outside and Deep Creeks (lower Kaweah River delta) south toTulare.
  • Wowol - Southeastern shore of Tulare Lake, including Atwell Island (Alpaugh).
  • Koyete -Tule RiverfromHighway 99toPorterville.
  • Yowlumne- LowerKern River/Bakersfieldarea, Caliente Creek, betweenKern Lakeand theTehachapi Mountainsand as far south as El Paso Creek.
  • Tuhoumne - Lower Kern River downstream from the Yowlumne. Also onBuena Vista Lake,Buena Vista Slough,and Goose Lake south of the Paleumne.
  • Halaumne (Hometwole)- Northern and western shores of Kern Lake.
  • Tulumne - The south, west, and north sides of Buena Vista Lake and as far west as theTaftandMcKittrickareas.

Foothill Yokuts

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Chukchansi (then spelled "Chuck Chance" ) inCoarsegold,California. ca.1900

Contemporary tribes

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The contemporary Wukchumni and Choinumni communities do not yet have federal recognition.[25]

As of the2010 censusthere are a total of 6,273 people who identify as Yokuts.[12]Many of them live on reservations that have casinos, these casinos have been essential to providing the Yokuts with jobs, money, and healthcare.[12]

Trading routes

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The Yokuts tribe of California are known to have engaged in trading with other California tribes of Native Americans in the United States including coastal peoples like, for example, the Chumash tribe of the Central California coast, and they are known to have traded plant and animal products.

Other items part of Yokuts trade included salts, soap stones, and obsidian.[13]They used marine shells as a form of money showing they had a functional monetary system in place.[13]

Internal conflicts within the Chukchansi tribe near Yosemite

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Further information:Tribal disenrollment,Impact of Native American gaming,andNative American reservation politics

On April 5, 2015, it was reported that members of the Chukchansi tribe nearYosemitehad been disenrolling other members from the tribe for decades, so that the tribe's casino profits would go to fewer people. In the autumn of 2014, several disenrolled Chukchansi tribe members (who were no longer receiving a share of casino profits) arrived at theChukchansi Gold Resort & Casinoarmed with guns, and violence ensued. As a result, a federal judge ordered that the casino be shut down.[26]The casino reopened on December 31, 2015, and a formal Grand Reopening Ceremony took place on January 15, 2016.

Notable Yokuts

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Tribal government

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Every tribe has a head chief, winatun, and a village chief.[27]

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  • A Chukchansi woman and child, California, ca. 1920
  • Dick Neal, a member of the Chukchansi tribe, California, ca. 1920
  • Young members of the Chukchansi tribe, California, ca. 1920
  • A Chukchansi woman preparing acorns for grinding, California, ca.1920

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^"2010 Census"(PDF).census.gov.Retrieved9 March2015.
  2. ^abcdefgCalifornia Indians and Their Reservations: Y.San Diego State University Library and Information Access. 2009 (retrieved 29 June 2010)
  3. ^abPritzker, 157
  4. ^Powell, 1891:90–91.
  5. ^Kroeber, Alfred L. (1907). The Yokuts language of south central California. University of California publications in American archaeology and ethnology (Vol. 2, pp. 165–377).
  6. ^Pritzker, 211
  7. ^"Gale - Product Login".galeapps.gale.Retrieved2022-05-12.
  8. ^"Tachi Yokut Tribe".Tachi Yokut Tribe.Retrieved2022-05-12.
  9. ^Kroeber, A. L. (1907).Indian Myths of South Central California.University Press. pp. 170–250.
  10. ^abcdefghijklMorris Bakken, Gordon; Kindell, Alexandra (2006)."Yokuts".Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West.103:729–735 – via SAGE Reference.
  11. ^Latta, Frank (1978).Handbook of Yokuts Indians.Bear State Books. pp. 73–228.ISBN9781892622099.
  12. ^abcdefghijklSutton, Mark Q. (2007).An Introduction to Native North America.Routledge. pp. 182–187.ISBN978-0133814095.
  13. ^abcSutton, Mark Q. (2007).An Introduction to Native North America.Routledge. pp. 182–187.ISBN978-0133814095.
  14. ^Mackenzie, J. (2005)."Peoples, Nations and Cultures".Credo Reference.RetrievedApril 28,2022.
  15. ^Kroeber 1925:883.
  16. ^Baumhoff 1963; Cook 1955; Wallace 1978.
  17. ^Heizer and Elsasser 1980:16.
  18. ^Gelya, Frank."The Un-ratified treaties of 1851"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 2014-10-12.
  19. ^Walsh, Margaret (2009-06-01)."Frontiers: A Short History of the American West. By Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher".The Historian.71(2): 363–364.doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2009.00240_18.x.ISSN0018-2370.S2CID144645933.
  20. ^"Skull Island".History of Tulare County California, with Illustrations, Descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines, from original drawings, with biographical sketches.Wallace W. Elliott & Co, Publishers. 1883. p. 153.
  21. ^Latta 1999,"Jack Rabbit Drive".
  22. ^"Yokuts Indians".native-americans.14 August 2017.
  23. ^Latta, Frank (1978).Handbook of Yokuts Indians.Bear State Books. pp. 73–228.ISBN9781892622099.
  24. ^Sydney M. Lamb. 1957.Mono Grammar.University of California. Berkeley PhD dissertation.
  25. ^abPritzker, 159
  26. ^"Millions At Stake In California Tribe Membership Dispute".NPR.org.5 April 2015.Retrieved1 August2015.
  27. ^"Tribal Government | Tulare County History".tularecountyhistory.org.Retrieved2017-12-21.

References

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  • Kroeber, A. L. 1910.On the Evidences of Occupation of Certain Regions by the Miwok Tribes,University of California Press, Berkeley, Vol. 6 No. 3 p. 370[1]
  • Kroeber, A. L. 1925.Handbook of the Indians of California.Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.
  • Pritzker, Barry M. 2000.A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.Oxford University Press, Oxford.ISBN978-0-19-513877-1.
  • Heizer, R. F., and A. B. Elsasser 1980.The Natural World of the California Indians,University of California Press, Berkeley.ISBN0-520-03895-9.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related toYokuts.
Wikisourcehas the text of the1911Encyclopædia Britannicaarticle "Mariposan".

Further reading

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  • Baumhoff, Martin A. 1963. "Ecological Determinants of Aboriginal California Populations".University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology49:155–236.
  • Cook, Sherburne F. 1955. "The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California".Anthropological Records16:31–80. University of California, Berkeley.
  • Cummins, Marjorie W. (1978).The Tache-Yokuts, Indians of the San Joaquin Valley.Pioneer Publishing Company.ISBN0-914330-24-1.
  • Heizer, Robert F., and Albert B. Elsasser. 1980.The Natural World of the California Indians.University of California Press, Berkeley.
  • Powell, John Wesley 1891.Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico,Government Printing Office, Washington, pages 90–91.[2]
  • Wallace, William J. 1978. "Southern Valley Yokuts". InCalifornia,edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 448–469. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  • Webb, Frederick 1910. 'Tachi' and 'Tammukan', inHandbook of American Indians North of Mexico,Government Printing Office.Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N-Z
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