The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

groups indigenous to what is now

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

, who traditionally spoke one of the

Miwok languages The Miwok or Miwokan languages (; ), also known as ''Moquelumnan'' or ''Miwuk'', are a group of endangered languages spoken in central California by the Miwok peoples, ranging from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada. There ar ...

in the

Utian Utian (also Miwok–Costanoan, Miwok–Ohlone or formerly Mutsun) is a family of Indigenous languages spoken in Northern California, United States. The Miwok and Ohlone peoples both spoke languages of the Utian language family. It has been argu ...

family. The word ''Miwok'' means ''people'' in the Miwok languages.

Subgroups

Anthropologists An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

commonly divide the Miwok into four geographically and culturally diverse ethnic subgroups. These distinctions were not used among the Miwok before European contact. *''

Plains and Sierra Miwok The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of California Indian Miwok people, Indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Nevada. Geography The Plains and ...

'': from the western slope and foothills of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, the

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta *''

Coast Miwok The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of present-day Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golde ...

'': from present day location of

Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...

and southern

Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

(includes the ''Bodega Bay Miwok'' and ''Marin Miwok'') *''

Lake Miwok The Lake Miwok are a branch of the Miwok, a Native American people of Northern California. The Lake Miwok lived in the Clear Lake basin of what is now called Lake County. While they did not have an overarching name for themselves, the Lake Mi ...

'': from Clear Lake basin of Lake County *''

Bay Miwok The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan missi ...

'': from present-day location of

Contra Costa County Contra Costa County (; ''Contra Costa'', Spanish language, Spanish for 'Opposite Coast') is a U.S. county, county located in the U.S. state of California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the ...

Federally recognized tribes

The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

officially recognizes eleven tribes of Miwok descent in California. They are as follows: *

Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians The Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok in Amador County, California. The Buena Vista Miwok are Sierra Miwok, an indigenous people of California.California Valley Miwok Tribe The California Valley Miwok Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in San Joaquin County and Calaveras County, California.Sheep Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians The California Valley Miwok Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in San Joaquin County and Calaveras County, California.Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians The Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in Tuolumne County, California. The Chicken Ranch Rancheria Miwok are central Sierra Miwok, an Indigenous people of California. Governmen ...

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by th ...

, formerly known as the

Federated Coast Miwok The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by th ...

Ione Band of Miwok Indians The Ione Band of Miwok Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in Amador County, California.

, of

Ione, California Ione ( ) is a city in Amador County, California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population is 5,141, which is a 35.1% decrease from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Once known as "Bedbug" and "Freeze Out," Ione ...

* Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians * Middletown Rancheria (members of this tribe are of

Pomo The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...

, and

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract) *

Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria The Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribe of Miwok people in Tuolumne County, California.United Auburn Indian Community of Auburn Rancheria * Wilton Rancheria Indian Tribe

Non-federally recognized tribes

* Miwok Tribe of the El Dorado Rancheria * Nashville-Eldorado Miwok Tribe * Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe of the Colfax Rancheria * Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation * Calaveras Band of Mi-Wuk Indians * Miwok of Buena Vista Rancheria * River Valley Miwok Indians, formally known as Historical Families of Wilton Rancheria

History

Bierstadt Albert Mariposa Indian Encampment Yosemite Valley California

The predominant theory regarding the

settlement of the Americas It is believed that the peopling of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers (Paleo-Indians) entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and w ...

dates the original migrations from Asia to around 20,000 years ago across the Bering Strait land bridge, but anthropologist

Otto von Sadovszky Otto J. von Sadovszky (July 3, 1925 – May 12, 2004) was a Hungarian-American anthropologist who worked at California State University, Fullerton in southern California for most of his career until his retirement. He is best known for his ling ...

claims that the Miwok and some other northern California tribes descend from

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

ns who arrived in California by sea around 3,000 years ago.

Culture

The Miwok lived in small

bands Bands may refer to: * Bands (song), song by American rapper Comethazine * Bands (neckwear), form of formal neckwear * Bands (Italian Army irregulars) Bands () was an Italian military term for Irregular military, irregular forces, composed of nati ...

without centralized political authority before contact with European Americans in 1769. They had

domesticated dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. T ...

s and cultivated

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, but were otherwise complex

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

Cuisine

The Sierra Miwok harvested acorns from the

California Black Oak ''Quercus kelloggii'', the California black oak or Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section (genus ''Quercus'', section ''Lobatae'', series ''Agrifoliae'') native to western North America. Description ''Quercus kelloggii'' grows from one ...

. In fact, the modern-day extent of the California Black Oak forests in some areas of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

is partially due to cultivation by Miwok tribes. They burned

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...

vegetation to reduce the fraction of

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

. Nearly every other kind of edible vegetable matter was used as a food source, including bulbs, seeds, and fungi. Animals were hunted with arrows, clubs or snares, depending on the species and the situation. Grasshoppers were a highly prized food source, as were

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s for those groups adjacent to the

Stanislaus River The Stanislaus River is a tributary of the San Joaquin River in north-central California in the United States. The main stem of the river is long, and measured to its furthest headwaters it is about long. Originating as three forks in the h ...

. Coastal Miwok were known to have predominantly relied on food gathered from the inland side of the Marin peninsula (modern San Pablo bay, lakes, and land based foods), but to have also engaged in diving for

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The Miwok ate meals according to appetite rather than at regular times. They stored food for later consumption, primarily in flat-bottomed baskets.

Religion

The Miwok creation story and narratives tend to be similar to those of other natives of Northern California. Miwok had

totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...

animals, identified with one of two moieties, which were in turn associated respectively with land and water. These totem animals were not thought of as literal ancestors of humans, but rather as predecessors.Kroeber, 1925

Languages

Sports

Miwok people played mixed-gender games on a playing field called ''poscoi a we'a''. A unique game was played with young men and women. Similarly to

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, the object was to put an elk hide ball through the goalpost. The girls were allowed to do anything, including kicking the ball and picking it up and running with it. The boys were only allowed to use their feet, but if a girl was holding it he could pick her up and carry her towards his goal.

Population

In 1770, there were an estimated 500 Lake Miwok, 1,500 Coast Miwok, and 9,000 Plains and Sierra Miwok, totaling about 11,000 people, according to historian

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber ( ; June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the fi ...

, although this may be a serious undercount; for example, he did not identify the Bay Miwok. History professors from California estimate the total Miwok population wa
25,000 people, prior to 1769.
The 1910 Census reported only 671 Miwok total, and the 1930 Census, 491. See history of each Miwok group for more information.Cook, 1976, pages 236–245. Today there are about 3,500 Miwok in total.

Influences on popular culture

The ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' films feature a fictional species of forest-dwelling creatures known as

Ewok The Ewoks (singular: Ewok) are a fictional species of small, furry, mammaloid, bipeds in the ''Star Wars'' universe. They inhabit the forest moon of Endor and live in arboreal huts and other simple dwellings, being seen as primitive in com ...

s, who are ostensibly named after the Miwok. The Miwok people are encountered in

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

's book ''

The Years of Rice and Salt ''The Years of Rice and Salt'' is an alternate history novel by American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, published in 2002. The novel explores how world history might have been different if the Black Death plague had killed 99 pe ...

''. In an alternate history scenario depicted in the book, they are the first group of Native Americans encountered by the first Chinese to discover the continent.

Notes

References

''Access Genealogy: Indian Tribal records, Miwok Indian Tribe''
Retrieved on 2006-08-01. Main source of "authenticated village" names and locations. * Barrett, S.A. and Gifford, E.W. ''Miwok Material Culture: Indian Life of the Yosemite Region''. Yosemite Association, Yosemite National Park, California, 1933. * Cook, Sherburne. ''The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization''. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1976. . * Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Washington, D.C.: ''Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin'' No. 78. (Chapter 30, The Miwok); available a
Yosemite Online Library
* Silliman, Stephen. ''Lost Laborers in Colonial California, Native Americans and the Archaeology of Rancho Petaluma''. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2004. .

External links

* ttp://www.californiaprehistory.com/tribmap.html Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770(map after Kroeber)
Tribe information
from

Angel Island State Park Angel Island (Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Isla de los Ángeles'') is an island in San Francisco Bay. The entire island is included within Angel Island State Park, administered by California State Parks. The island, a California His ...

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
*Short radio episod

from Coast Miwok lore in ''Californian Indian Nights Entertainments'', 1930, California Legacy Project.
Mewuktribe.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miwok People Indigenous peoples of California Sierra Nevada (United States) Central Valley (California) History of the San Francisco Bay Area