The
Kumeyaay, also known as the
Diegueño, are
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
people of the extreme southwestern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and northwest
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. They live in the states of
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
(in the U.S.) and
Baja CaliforniaBaja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
(in Mexico). In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled
kumiai.
Historically, the Kumeyaay have often been divided into three groups. Along the coast two groups were approximately separated by the
San Diego RiverThe San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the 112,800 acre-foot El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's watershed. Below El Capitan Dam,...
: the northern
Ipai (extending from
EscondidoEscondido is a city located in California, just north of the city of San Diego. The name means "hidden" in Spanish—it occupies a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city has an estimated population of 128,819. The city is...
to Lake Henshaw) and the southern
Tipai (including the
Laguna MountainsThe Laguna Mountains are a section of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately 20 miles. They are bordered by the Cuyamaca area on the west and the Colorado Desert on the east, where the mountains form a steep...
, Ensenada, and
TecateTecate is a small city in the Mexican state of Baja California, located at on the border with the United States and adjacent to Tecate, California. There is a border crossing which is much quieter than nearby Tijuana or Mexicali, making it a more accurate representation of small-town Mexican...
).
Nomenclature and tribal distinctions are not well-settled.
The
Kumeyaay, also known as the
Diegueño, are
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
people of the extreme southwestern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and northwest
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. They live in the states of
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
(in the U.S.) and
Baja CaliforniaBaja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
(in Mexico). In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled
kumiai.
Divisions and language
Historically, the Kumeyaay have often been divided into three groups. Along the coast two groups were approximately separated by the
San Diego RiverThe San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the 112,800 acre-foot El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's watershed. Below El Capitan Dam,...
: the northern
Ipai (extending from
EscondidoEscondido is a city located in California, just north of the city of San Diego. The name means "hidden" in Spanish—it occupies a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city has an estimated population of 128,819. The city is...
to Lake Henshaw) and the southern
Tipai (including the
Laguna MountainsThe Laguna Mountains are a section of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately 20 miles. They are bordered by the Cuyamaca area on the west and the Colorado Desert on the east, where the mountains form a steep...
, Ensenada, and
TecateTecate is a small city in the Mexican state of Baja California, located at on the border with the United States and adjacent to Tecate, California. There is a border crossing which is much quieter than nearby Tijuana or Mexicali, making it a more accurate representation of small-town Mexican...
).
Nomenclature and tribal distinctions are not well-settled. The general scholarly consensus recognizes three separate languages:
IpaiIpai, also known as Iipay or Northern Diegueño, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of central San Diego County, California. Hinton suggested a conservative estimate of 25 surviving Ipai speakers....
,
Kumeyaay properKumeyaay, also known as Southern Diegueño, Kamia, and Campo, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of southern San Diego and Imperial counties in California, as well as in portions of northern Baja California. Hinton suggested a conservative estimate of 50 surviving...
(including the Kamia), and
TipaiTipai, also known as Southern Diegueño, Kumiai, Huerteño, and Kw'atl, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of northern Baja California and the southern edge of San Diego County, California...
in northern Baja California (e.g., Langdon 1990). However, this notion is not supported by speakers of the language (actual Kumeyaay people) who contend that within their territory, all Kumeyaay (Ipai/Tipai) can understand and speak to each other, at least after a brief acclimatization period (Smith, 2005). It is safe to say that the Kuymeyaay speak languages belonging to the Delta-California branch of the
Yuman-Cochimí languagesYuman-Cochimí is a family of languages spoken in Baja California and northern Sonora in Mexico and southern California and western Arizona in the United States.-Genetic relations:...
family, to which several other linguistically distinct but related groups also belong, including the
CocopaThe Cocopah are a Native American peoples that live in Baja California, Mexico, and some emigated and settled on the lower reaches of the Colorado River. They are a Yuman people...
,
QuechanThe Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona just north of the border with Mexico. The Quechan are one of the Yuman tribes. Yuman is derived from the old name for the tribe, Yuma. The reservation is a part of their...
,
PaipaiThe Paipai are an aboriginal people of northern Baja California, Mexico. They occupied a territory lying between the Kiliwa on the south and the Kumeyaay and Cocopa on the north, and extending from San Vicente near the Pacific coast nearly to the Colorado River's delta in the east...
, and
KiliwaThe Kiliwa are an aboriginal people of northern Baja California, Mexico. They occupied a territory lying between the Cochimí on the south and the Paipai on the north, and extending from San Felipe on the Gulf of California to San Quintín on the Pacific coast....
.
The meaning of the term Kumeyaay is unknown, but Ipi or Tipi means person, although in contemporary times it is taken to mean Indian. Some Kumeyaay in the southern areas also refer to themselves as
MuttTipi, which means "people of the earth."
Reservations
The Kumeyaay live on 13 reservations in
San Diego County, CaliforniaSan Diego County is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U.S. state of California. It is the southwesternmost county in the contiguous 48 states...
(Barona, Campo, Capitan Grande, Ewiiapaayp, Inaja, Jamul, La Posta, Manzanita, Mesa Grande, San Pasqual, Santa Ysabel, Sycuan, and Viejas), and on four reservations in
Baja CaliforniaBaja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
(La Huerta, Nejí, San Antonio Nicuarr, and San José de la Zorra). The group living on a particular reservation is referred to as a "band," such as the "Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians."
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially.
(See Population of Native CaliforniaEstimates of the Native Californian population have varied substantially, both with respect to California's pre-contact count and for changes during subsequent periods. Pre-contact estimates range from 133,000 to 705,000 with some recent scholars concluding that these estimates are low...
.) Alfred L. KroeberAlfred Louis Kroeber was one of the most influential figures in American anthropology in the first half of the twentieth century....
(1925:883) proposed that the population of the Kumeyaay in 1770, exclusive of those in Baja California, had been about 3,000. Frederic Noble Hicks (1963:65-66) raised this estimate to 5,100-5,700. Katharine Luomala (1978:596) suggested that the region could have supported 6,000-9,000 Kumeyaay. Florence C. Shipek (1986:19) went much farther, estimating 16,000-19,000 inhabitants.
Kroeber reported the population of the Kumeyaay in 1910 as 800.
See also
- Kumeyaay traditional narratives
Kumeyaay traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Kumeyaay people of southern California and northwestern Baja California....
- Kumeyaay language
Kumeyaay, also known as Southern Diegueño, Kamia, and Campo, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of southern San Diego and Imperial counties in California, as well as in portions of northern Baja California. Hinton suggested a conservative estimate of 50 surviving...
- Mission Indians
Mission Indians, as an appellation, identifies various California native tribes and bands, mostly coastal or adjacent inland valleys and uplands. The Shoshone formed a large group mostly in Southern California...
- Ipai language
Ipai, also known as Iipay or Northern Diegueño, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of central San Diego County, California. Hinton suggested a conservative estimate of 25 surviving Ipai speakers....
- Tipai language
Tipai, also known as Southern Diegueño, Kumiai, Huerteño, and Kw'atl, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of northern Baja California and the southern edge of San Diego County, California...
- Yuman
The Yuman people are a group of Native American ethnic groups of the Yuman-Cochimí language family. The historic Yuman-speaking peoples in this region were skilled warriors and active traders, maintaining exchange networks with the Pima in southern Arizona and with the Pacific coast.The term...
- Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians
- Viejas Arena at San Diego State University
For a railway station that serves the campus, see SDSU Transit Center.San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
- Viejas Casino
Viejas is a San Diego area casino, and outlet center owned by the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians. The casino houses 2,200 slot machines, up to 86 table games, four restaurants, a deli, bingo, an off-track betting facility, lounge, concert venues and a poker room...
- Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation is a minor tribal band of Mission Indians hailing from around the El Cajon, California, area. The Sycuan band are a portion of the Kumeyaay, one of the four native San Diego-region tribes.-Gaming enterprise:...
- Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming
The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University focuses on research, policy studies, and education related to the area of tribal gaming management...
at San Diego State University
External links