The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of

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 ...

, including the

Wintu The Wintu (also Northern Wintun) are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun (or Wintuan). There are three major groups that make up the Wi ...

(northern),

Nomlaki The Nomlaki (also Noamlakee, Central Wintu, Nomelaki) are a Wintun people native to the area of the Sacramento Valley, extending westward to the Coast Range in Northern California. Today some Nomlaki people are enrolled in the federally recogniz ...

(central), and

Patwin The Patwin (also Patween and Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people in Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500. Today, Patwin people are en ...

(southern).Pritzker, 152California Indians and Their Reservations: W.
''San Diego State University Library and Information Access.'' 2010 (retrieved 30 June 2010) Their range is from approximately present-day

Lake Shasta Shasta Lake, also popularly known as Lake Shasta, is a reservoir in Shasta County, California, United States. It began to store water in 1944 due to the impounding of the Sacramento River by Shasta Dam, the ninth-tallest dam in the US. Shast ...

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

, along the western side of the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...

to the Coast Range. Each of these tribes speak one of the

Wintuan languages Wintuan (also Wintun, Wintoon, Copeh, Copehan) is a language family, family of languages spoken in the Sacramento Valley of central Northern California. All Wintuan languages are either extinct language, extinct or severely endangered language, ...

. Linguistic and archaeological evidence suggests that the Wintun people probably entered the California area around 500 AD from what is now southern Oregon, introducing

bow and arrow The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elasticity (physics), elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles (arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the ...

technology to the region (Golla 2011: 205). There has been

carbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was ...

of several artifacts by UC Berkeley that dates back to around 10,000 years, and several of these artifacts have now been

repatriated Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

. Despite being a major influence on the region's history, there is still very little history on the Wintu due to centuries of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

and

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

that still occur today along with continued destruction of sacred ceremonial and religious sites, often due to companies that ignore legal or ethical considerations.

Federally recognized Wintun tribes

* Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community of the Colusa Rancheria *

Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians The Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians is a federally recognized tribe and ranchería of Wintun and Wailaki Indians from northern California.Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation The Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation of the Cortina Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Indigenous people of California. They are Wintun people, who historically spoke Wintuan languages. They're headquartered in Williams, California, and they ...

, formerly known as the

Cortina Indian Rancheria The Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation of the Cortina Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Indigenous people of California. They are Wintun people, who historically spoke Wintuan languages. They're headquartered in Williams, California, and they ...

Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, or in their own language Nomlāqa Bōda, is a federally recognized tribe of Nomlaki people. The Nomlaki are Central Wintun, or River and Hill Nomlaki, an indigenous people of California, located in Tehama a ...

Redding Rancheria The Redding Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in Shasta County, California, Shasta County, Northern California. The of the Redding Rancheria was purchased in 1922 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to provide Indi ...

Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation The Round Valley Indian Tribe, originally known as the Covelo Indian Community, is a federally recognized confederation of Native American tribes. These include the Yuki, Wailaki, Concow (or Konkow), Little Lake and other Pomo, Nomlaki, and Pit R ...

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation ( ) is a federally recognized tribe of Wintun people, specifically Patwin people or southern Wintun, in Yolo County, California. They were formerly known as the Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of Californi ...

, formerly known as the

Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation ( ) is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribe of Wintun people, specifically Patwin people or southern Wintun, in Yolo County, California. They were formerly known as the Rumsey Indian Rancheria of ...

"Wintun Indians."
''SDSU: California Indians and Their Reservations.'' 2011. Retrieved 25 Oct 2012.

Notes

References

* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. . * Golla, Victor. ''California Indian Languages.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. .

External links

Federally recognized Wintun tribes

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links