Ohlone
The peoples residing in the San Francisco Bay Area before the arrival of Spanish colonizers were the Ohlone. They occupied the areas from the Bay Area to Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley. The Ohlone languages, and the Miwok languages, are sub-families of the Utian language family.
The Ohlone, formerly known as the Costanoans, lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Bay Area was one of the most densely populated regions north of Mexico.
The Ohlone were skilled hunter-gatherers, Their diet included crushed acorns, nuts, grass seeds, and berries; fish and seafood; animals such as grizzly bear, elk, pronghorn, and deer; salmon, perch, and stickleback from streams; ducks, geese, quail, and waterfowl.
The first contact between the Ohlone and European colonizers occurred in the late 18th century when Spanish explorers arrived in California. Spanish missions were established, and the Ohlone, along with other Native American groups, were forcibly brought into the mission system. The missions aimed to convert indigenous people to Christianity and assimilate them into Spanish colonial society.
The missionization process had a profound impact on the Ohlone people. They faced diseases, loss of traditional ways of life, and exploitation under the mission system. Many Ohlone individuals died due to diseases introduced by the Europeans, and their cultural practices were suppressed.
In the early 19th century, the Mexican government secularized the missions, leading to the dispersal of Ohlone communities. Land that had been traditionally used by the Ohlone was distributed to private landowners, further disrupting their way of life.
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