The
Yokuts (at one time also known as
Mariposans) are an
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
of
Native AmericansNative 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...
native to inland central
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...
. Before the arrival of Europeans (pre-contact), the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 separate tribes speaking the same language. Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names and reject the name
Yokuts with the claim that it is an exonym invented by English speaking settlers and historians. Conventional subgroupings include the Foothill Yokuts and the Valley Yokuts. Yokuts tribes populated the
San Joaquin ValleyThe San Joaquin Valley refers to the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Stockton...
from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ("the delta") south to
BakersfieldBakersfield is a city at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California, United States. It is located roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively...
and also the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which lies to the east. In the northern half of the Yokuts region, there were some tribes inhabiting the foothills of the Coast Range, which lies to the west. There is evidence of Yokuts also inhabiting the
Carrizo PlainThe Carrizo Plain is a large enclosed plain, approximately 50 miles long and up to 15 miles across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California...
and creating
rock artRock art is a term in archaeology for any man-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
in the
Painted RockPainted Rock is a smooth horseshoe-shaped marine sandstone rock formation about 250 feet across and 45 feet tall near Soda Lake within the Carrizo Plain National Monument
[http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bakersfield/Programs/carrizo.html BLM Carrizo Plain] on the southwest side of the...
area.
The numbers of Foothill Yokuts were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900. A few Valley Yokuts remain, the most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi. Only a few Yokuts tribes have been federally recognized.
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....
in 1925 put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000. Several subsequent investigators suggested that the total should be substantially higher Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser 1980 suggested that the Yokuts had numbered about 70,000.
Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokuts in 1910 as 600.
Current communities
- Santa Rosa Rancheria
Santa Rosa Rancheria is the reservation of the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria. It is located 4.5 miles southeast of Lemoore, California. Established in 1934 on about 40 acres , the Santa Rosa Rancheria belongs to the Tachi Yokut tribe and is the site of the Tachi Palace...
- Picayune Rancheria of Chuckchansi Indians
- Table Mountain Rancheria
- Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation
The Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans. The Tule River Reservation is the name of the tribe's reservation, which is located in Tulare County, California...
- Tuolumne Rancheria
Trading routes
Yokuts are known to have engaged in trading with other California tribes of
Native AmericansNative 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...
including
coastThe coast is defined as where the land meets the sea. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the process of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
al peoples such as the
ChumashThe "Chumash" are Native American people who historically inhabit chiefly central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu in the south...
of the
Central CaliforniaCentral California, sometimes referenced as Mid-State, is an informally defined area, that most often includes southern portions of the Sacramento Valley, northern San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast and hills of the California Coast Ranges, and the foothills and mountain areas of the central...
coast, with whom they are thought to have traded plant and animal products.
See also
- Yokutsan languages
Yokutsan is an endangered language family spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokut people. The speakers of Yokutsan languages were severely affected by disease, missionaries, and the Gold Rush...
- Yokuts traditional narratives
Yokuts traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Yokuts people of the San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada foothills of central California....
- Kuksu (religion)
Kuksu, also called the Kuksu Cult, was a shamanistic religion in Northern California practiced in different degrees by many Native American people before and during contact with the arriving European settlers...
- Painted Rock
Painted Rock is a smooth horseshoe-shaped marine sandstone rock formation about 250 feet across and 45 feet tall near Soda Lake within the Carrizo Plain National Monument
[http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bakersfield/Programs/carrizo.html BLM Carrizo Plain] on the southwest side of the...
External links