The Yelamu were a local tribe of

Ohlone people The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited ...

from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

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 ...

. The Yelamu spoke a language called Ramaytush. The moder
Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (ARO)
are the descendants of the Ramaytush. Ohlone_war_dance_closeup

Randall Milliken's study, "A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1810", estimates that 160 to 300 Yelamu were living in San Francisco when the Spanish established

Mission San Francisco de Asís The Mission San Francisco de Asís (), also known as Mission Dolores, is a historic Catholic Church, Catholic church complex in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Operated by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the complex was founded in ...

on June 30, 1776. Artifacts have been found across San Francisco from at least 50 different locations during modern construction activities within the city that were originally left by family groups that moved seasonally between villages around present day San Francisco. Additional villages existed to the south of San Francisco as well.

History

According to anthropologists, the Yelamu people and their Ohlone neighbors arrived in the San Francisco area between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. They lived on the northern tip of the

San Francisco Peninsula The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is Los Altos and Mountain View, ...

in the region comprising the City and County of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

before the arrival of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

missionaries in 1769. The first four Yelamu people who converted to Christianity were baptized by Father Palou and Father Santa Maria between 1777 and 1779. They were absorbed into the

that was founded in 1776 by the Spaniards, and became some of the first "Mission Indians" in the San Francisco area.

Villages

The largest of the three San Francisco groups had its winter village at Tubsinthe, near Candlestick Point and its summer home at Amuctac in Visitacion Valley. The second group moved between their summer camp at Chutchui village located along Mission Creek in the Mission and Sitlintac on the edge of Mission Bay that was filled in during the 19th century. The third community lived near Crissy Field at Petlenuc. The Yelamu/Ramai villages south of San Francisco: * Ompuromo - Southwest of Lake Merced * Timigtac - Near present day Pacifica * Pruristic - Present day Pacifica * Siplichiquin - southeast foot of San Bruno Mountain * Urebure - Present day San BrunoBrown, Alan K. ''Place Names of San Mateo County'', published San Mateo County Historical Association, 1975.

History

Villages

References

Further reading