California Indians are members of more than sixty indian tribes. Many California indians are referred to as Mission Indians or Rancheria indians.

California Indians Historic Timeline

8,000 B.C. - According to leading archeologists, ceramic bowls, spears, and coiled baskets found in the Barona Ranch area in Southern California, were used by California Indians more than 10,000 years ago.

2,000 B.C. - Ancestors of the Miwok Indians of Yosemite first arrived in the region, establishing villages along the Merced River.

1,000 B.C. - According to archeological evidence, the Paiute Indians first arrived in the southeastern part of California at this time, before expanding eastward into Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

390 B.C. - According to human fossils found on the campus of Santa Clara University, the Ohlone people were living in the area more than 2,400 years ago.

1542 - Captain Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed on the California coast and claimed it for Spain.

1579 - Sir Francis Drake landed on the California coast, spent five weeks with a local tribe, then claimed the whole area for the British Crown before he left.

1769 - The Spanish founded the first California mission, Mission San Diego de Alcal?. At this time, there were an estimated 310,000 Indians in California.

1775 - Eight hundred men of the Ipai-Tipai tribes destroyed the Mission of San Diego. It was the strongest attack by native peoples against Spanish rule and colonization to date.

1824 - Two thousand Indians captured Mission La Purisima in protest of forced labor and ill treatment imposed by local authorities. Spanish soldiers reclaimed the mission, executing seven Indians and imprisoning many others.

1834 - Governor Jose Figueroa began secularizing all California missions. The process provided that half of all mission property would go towards the support of local Indian tribes.

1848 - Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill. The Indian population in California was estimated at 150,000.

1850 - The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was enacted at the First State Constitutional Convention.

1852 - The ratification of 18 treaties that would have set aside nearly 7.5 million acres of California land for Indian use was blocked in Senate meetings.

1875 - President Ulysses S. Grant signed an Executive Order to establish reservations for the Santa Ysabel, Pala, Sycuan, La Jolla, Rincon, Viejas, and Capitan Grande bands.

1881 - The Yokayo Pomo purchased 120-acres near the Russian River with a $1,000 down payment raised by the tribal members.

1887 - Congress passed the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act), which provided for the distribution of land to Indians for the various reservations, but also gave the federal government power to evict Indians from their current location.

1888 - The Cupe?os of Warner Springs challenged the Dawes Act in an effort to halt their eviction. In 1903, the U.S. Supreme Court decided against them, and they were evicted from their homes.

1893 - Land allotments were made to the Rincon, Morongo, and Pala Reservations.

1894 - Land allotments were made at the Round Valley Reservation.

1900 - The California Indian population is estimated at 16,500.

1909 - The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco began investigating the matter of Indian land rights under the 18 "lost treaties."

1917 - The California Supreme Court declared California Indians as citizens, stating:

"That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any to tribal or other property."

1924 - Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to all American Indians born in the U.S.

1928 - The United States Congress passed the California Indian Jurisdictional Act (Lea Act). For the first time, California Indians had the support of the federal courts to file a land claim based on the 18 "lost treaties."

1934 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Indian Reorganization Act (25 U.S.C. 461). Sixty-one California reservations totalling 7,500 acres were set aside for Indian tribes.

1944 - The U.S. Court of Claims awarded the California Indians a settlement of more than $17.8 million. However, by following the mandate stated in the Lea Act, benefits already granted by the government, which included the administrative costs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in California, were excluded from the claim, leaving a net figure of $5 million.

In response, the Federal Indians of California submitted an $88 million claim in addition to the $5 million.

1952 - The Bureau of Indian Affairs enacted the policy of Termination -- the process of removing Indians and their land from federal trust. Several termination bills were introduced in Congress, and government assistance to Indians in California was prematurely halted.

1953 - The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 83-280, which declared that crimes occurring on Indian land were no longer under the federal government's jurisdiction.

1958 - The Rancheria Termination Act was enacted. It provided for the transfer of title of all rancheria land and assets from the government to Indian tribes.

1959 - The Indian Claims Commission issued an order stating that California Indians held title to 64 million acres of land west of the Sierra Nevada. A settlement was reached in the amount of $29,100,000 for the lands from which California Indians had been evicted.

1970 - The Pit River Nation began to successfully re-occupy pieces of their ancestral land, proclaiming:

"We are the rightful and legal owner of the land. . . . No amount of money can buy the Mother Earth; therefore, the California Indian Land Claims Commission has no meaning. The Earth is our Mother and we cannot sell her."

The U.S. Census estimated 91,018 Indians living in California.

1972 - 60,000 California Indians were compensated $633 each according to the settlement of the 18 "lost treaties."

1980 - More than 201,000 Indians were living in California.

1996 - The California Indian Museum and Cultural Center was officially established at the Presidio of San Francisco. The surrounding area was the home of the Ohlone/Costanoan people before the Spanish established military garrisons in 1776.

2000 - More than 330,000 American Indians were living in California, more than any other state.

California Indians Historic Timeline

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