From ancient times indigenous peoples have lived throughout the Monterey Peninsula and region.  Up and down the Pacific Coast, large extended families or clans have considered the rivers, streams, seashore, hills, mountains, and valleys their home.  When we read local history, very little is mentioned of these groups of people who lived for thousands of years in what is now our home.  Most local history focuses on the arrival and settlement of the Spanish and Mexican cultures.  Often when reading local history, there is a brief mention of the Ohlone people or one of the local tribes, the Esalen or Rumsen.

Historically, our view is limited if we only look back three or four hundred years.  

We miss the richness and diversity of indigenous cultures, sometimes referred to under the blanket term, Ohlone.  Ohlone was the term used by a local group of people who lived in the Pescadero region of the coast.  The term Ohlone has come to be used as a term to blanket all the tribes in this region. It is thought that this word derives from the Miwok language, and means “western people.”  

Unlike the East Coast and Midwest, where there were large confederations of tribes who joined together for mutual protection as well as trade and shared interests, the indigenous peoples of the West Coast more often than not, were organized into what anthropoligists call, tribelets.  The tribelets were usually bands of 200-300 families who shared a common language, culture, traditions, and lifestyle. The tribelets, however, were not all alike. Each tribelet had its own language, culture and practices, lifestyle and collective narrative and legends upon which they based their unique identities. It has been estimated that just in the coastal area between San Francisco and Monterey/Big Sur region, there were over 200 such groups (an estimated 10,000 or more people) living  in this area prior to the arrival of the first European explorers in the 1700s. 

Many have the mistaken idea that all the indigenous populations were completely wiped out, and no longer exist. This is a typical view of many about most indigenous tribes across the country.  It is, however, far from the case.  We know little about our indigenous brothers and sisters primarily due to the fact that their cultures and languages were devastated due to the poor treatment they received by those who settled the land and by the position from which they were viewed by the dominant cultures that have governed the territory. Being a descendant of one such group of people, though from further up the coast in southern Washington and Oregon, I have come to understand how difficult it has been for the indigenous peoples to speak of their own history.  The settlement of the west coast is more recent than that of the east coast and midsection of the country.  The destruction and remaining woundedness of the western tribes is still new...within the last four or five generations.  Since the times of the Spanish land grants and the latter  land grant acts passed by the U.S. government in the mid-1800s, the indigenous peoples have been stripped of their land in California.  What has happened to the people who had lived in this region for thousands of years?  

In the next few months, this column will be devoted to seeking the answers to this question.  There are many stories that have been left untold, and a version of the history of our region that needs to be given voice.  We will seek to discover some of the stories that are yet to be told by the descendants of  indigenous tribes.  We will discuss some of the very active and vital work being done by the tribal people and the mixed indigenous who are beginning to understand their own history, who are beginning to tell their own stories and integrate their family histories into a more coherent and realistic picture.  At this point in our human story, we have the opportunity of helping heal some of the injustices and misunderstandings that have gone unaddressed or ignored.  It is a good time to look into our own family narratives and bring to life some of what has been nearly forgotten.  Our history affects us whether we know what it is or not.  To learn more about our own family stories, helps us keep the history of our region inclusive of all who have lived, worked, given to the land and waterways, and contributed to the human story of our home in Monterey County.  We welcome your stories and look forward to finding out more about how the indigenous peoples live within and among us...how they continue to weave the tapestry of our home here in Monterey County.