Those tribes that survived may or may not have federal recognition, which entitles tribes and their members to federal services and resources.Īs a result, “there isn’t a comprehensive list” of Native American tribes in California, Clarke said. “Had the Gold Rush happened in Southern California, I probably wouldn’t be here today … my tribe wouldn’t be here today.”

“That’s the complexity of the history of this nation,” Clarke said.

Many did not survive Spanish and American colonization, Clarke said, particularly following the huge waves of westward immigration in the 19th century, starting with the California gold rush and tens of thousands of Americans arriving in the northern part of the state in search of riches. But “a lot of them have just been erased off the face of the Earth,” he said. There may once have been 300 tribes in Southern California, according to Gerald Clarke, an ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside and a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians. Before there was a Riverside, San Bernardino, Redlands or Rancho Cucamonga, the Inland Empire was home to native communities for thousands of years.Īccording to the crowd-sourced Native-Land.ca website, the Inland Empire was once home to the Tongva, who are believed to have inhabited Southern California for up to 3,500 years the Payómkawichum (Luiseño) Kizh Cahuilla, who say they arrived in the region 5,000 years ago and the Yuhaviatam/ Maarenga’yam (Serrano) tribes - all of which today survive under multiple names in multiple federally recognized tribes.

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