1. California’s Historical Geography
Pre-European California
Size, density of population
Ideas of land ownership
Relationships to environment

2. Vast Population
300,000-1,000,000
20 languages
No homogeneity
Regional distinctions

3. Tribal boundaries are estimates
No private ownership
Indians burn their homes…

4. Sophisticated world view
Metaphysical: three worlds
No ‘fear of God’, necessary for a ‘Gente de Razon’

5. Recognized resources as finite
Saw themselves as temporary inhabitants
Limits on fishing
Controlled burning
Population control

7. 1850 drawing from Northern California

8. Indian House in Humbolt, 1850

9. Feather River, 1845

10. Indians in Mojave 1857

11. San Jose Mission indians, 1807

12. Yurok, 1850

13. Spanish perceptions of Native Californians:
Unsuccessful
No fear of God, no Catholic God
No agriculture
Junipero Serra—Savior for Indians
What is ‘success’?