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Miwok—also spelled Miwuk or Me-Wuk—refers to native Californians who lived in what is now Northern California. The word Miwok means people in the Miwok language.
Originally there were three geographically detached groups:
- The Plains and Sierra Miwok, the main group who lived on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada between the Fresno and Cosumnes Rivers and in the delta area where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers converge.
- The Coast Miwok, who lived from the Golden Gate north to Duncan's Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek.
- The Lake Miwok, who lived in the Clear Lake basin.
Alfred L. Kroeber estimated that, in 1770, there were 500 Lake Miwok, 1,500 Coast Miwok, and 9,000 Plains and Sierra Miwok, totaling about 11,000. The 1910 Census reported 670, and the 1930 Census 491, but this may be an undercount.
The Miwok spoke a language in the Utian linguistic group.
The Miwok lived by hunting and gathering, and lived in small bands without centralized political authority. They were skilled at basketry.
Miwok mythology was similar to other Northern Californians, with many tales of Coyote the trickster.
Plains and Sierra Miwok
Bay Miwok
The Bay Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Contra Costa County.
Plains Miwok
The Plains Miwok inhabited the general area of modern San Joaquin County.
Northern Sierra Miwok
The Northern Miwok inhabited the upper watersheds of the Mokelumne River and the Calaveras River.
Central Sierra Miwok
The Central Miwok inhabited the upper watersheds of the Stanislaus River and the Tuolumne River.Southern Sierra Miwok
The Southern Miwok inhabited the lower banks of the Merced River and the Chowchilla River, as well as Mariposa Creek.
The Merced River flows through Yosemite National Park. The Mono people (considered Paiute) occupied the higher Sierras and entered Yosemite from the east. Miwoks occupied the lower western foothills of the Sierras and entered from the west. Disputes between the two were violent, and the residents of the valley, in defense of their territory, were considered to be among the most aggressive of any tribes in the area. When encountered by immigrants of European descent, the neighboring tribes referred to the valley's residents as "killers". It is from this reference and a confusion over the word for "grizzly bear" that Bunnell named the valley Yosemite. The residents of Yosemite were of both Paiute and Miwok origin, had either fought to stalemate or agreed to peaceful coexistence, and had intermixed to a limited extent. The native residents called the valley awahni. Today, there is some debate about the original meaning of the word, since the Southern Miwok language is virtually extinct, but recent Southern Miwok speakers defined it as "place like a gaping mouth." Those living in awahni were known as the Awahnichi (also spelled Ahwahnechee and similar variants), meaning "people who live in awahni".
Wassama Roundhouse State Historic Park near Oakhurst, California preserves a Southern Sierra Miwok ceremonial site.
Language
=Sounds
=Consonants
The 15 consonants of Southern Sierra Miwok:
| Bilabial | Labio-velar | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | ||||||||
| Affricate | ||||||||
| Nasal | ||||||||
| Fricative | ||||||||
| Approximant | central | |||||||
| lateral | ||||||||
Vowels
The 6 vowels of Southern Sierra Miwok:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | |||
| Mid | |||
| Low |
Length
Since vowel and consonant length is contrastive, is considered to be a separate (archi-)phoneme.
Syllable
The syllable structure of Southern Sierra Miwok is the following:
Coast Miwok
The Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County but were driven from their land in 1958, finally regaining federal recognition of their tribal status (as the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) in December, 2000. There is a recreated Coast Miwok village called Kule Loklo located at the Point Reyes National Seashore.
Lake Miwok
The Lake Miwok inhabited the general area of Clear Lake in modern Lake County.
U.S. Recognition
The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs officially recognized seven tribes in 2003 named Miwok or Me-Wuk:
- Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
- California Valley Miwok Tribe
- Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
- Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California
- Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
- Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California
- Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California
See also
References
- The Miwok in Yosemite, pamphlet from Yosemite Association; Craig D. Bates, 1996
- Broadbent, Sylvia. (1964). The Southern Sierra Miwok Language. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 38). Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Origin of the word Yosemite (and linked references)
- Bunnell's "Discovery of the Yosemite"
External links
- Point Reyes National Seashore Coast Miwok Page
- Angel Island State Park Miwok Page
- Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, A Coast Miwok Tribe
- Volunteers of the Kule Loklo (Bear Valley) Coast Miwok village
- The Dawn of the World (etext of book of Miwok mythology)
- Miwok Myths
- Learn Central Sierra Miwok
- Online books about the Southern Sierra Miwok
- Central Sierra Miwok Dictionary
- Southern Sierra Miwok Dictionary
- Coast Miwok Language Tutorial
- Miwok Indian Tribe
- Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770 (map after Kroeber)
- Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin
Native American tribes | Languages of the United States | Utian languages
"Miwok"