Yana people
The Yana people were a group of Native Americans indigenous to Northern California in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, on the western side of the range. The Yana people were comprised of four groups: the Northern Yana, the Central Yana, the Southern Yana, and the Yahi. The noun stem Ya- means person and the noun suffix is -na in the northern dialects and -hi [xi] in the southern dialects. Each group had relatively distinct boundaries, dialects and customs.
The Yana people lived on wild game, fished salmon, fruit, acorns and roots. Their land was approximately 40 miles by 60 miles and contained mountain streams, gorges, boulder-strewn hills, and some lush meadows.
History
Before the white settlers reached the Sierra Nevada, the Yana people numbered about 3000. However, when James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, the gold-miners and ranchers flocked into Yana territory, the food supply changed dramatically. The tribe suffered great loss and faught with the settlers. By 1865, there were fewer than 50 Yahi combined. The Three Knolls Massacre of 1865 left only 30 survivors. The remaining Yahi retreated after the 1865 massacre and concealed their existance in the mountain wilderness for over 40 years.
The Yahi
The Yahi were the southern portion of the Yana people. They were hunter-gatherers who lived in small groups without centralized political authority. They were reclusive, fiercely defending their diminishing territory of mountain canyons.
Ishi
The last known survivor of this people was from the Yahi tribe and named Ishi ([ʔísχi], where the noun stem [ʔís-] means "man, person".) . He had spent his life in hiding with his tribe members in the Sierra wilderness. He was the most famous Yahi, indeed the only one known to us. Ishi emerged from the mountains near Oroville, California on August 29, 1911 after the last of his family died, having lived his entire life outside of the European-American culture. Known as the "last wild Indian", Ishi was taken to the University of California in San Francisco for study and for his protection, where under the auspices of Alfred Kroeber he lived in and near the Museum of Anthropology in evident contentment until his death from tuberculosis in 1916. His language was recorded and studied in 1911 by Edward Sapir, who had previously done work on the northern dialects.
See also
Bibliography
- A History of American Indians in California: HISTORIC SITES Ishi's Hiding Place Butte County
- Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America. Theodora Kroeber, Foreword by Karl Kroeber.
- Ishi the Last Yahi: A Documentary History. Robert F. Heizer (Editor), Theodora Kroeber (Editor).
- Yana Texts. Edward Sapir. University of California Publications in American Archaology and Ethnology 9:1-235 (1910).