Chumash Native Americans

The Chumash Native American tribe traditionally occupied a 7,000 square mile homeland in what is now southcentral California. Their homeland ranged from Estero Bay (present-day San Luis Obispo) to Malibu Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains outside of Los Angeles. Estimates on the number of Chumash indigenous peoples prior to Euroamerican contact range from 8,000 to as high as 22,000 at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Although studied as a single Native American tribe, the varieties of Chumash culture and language are divided among at least six geographical regions, five of which are named for the Catholic missions found nearby. The Barbareno, Ventureno, and Ynezeno lived along the coast from Point Conception to Punta Gorda in what is now Ventura County. Obispeno and Purisimeno also lived along the coast, but further north near the Spanish missions of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and La Purisima Concepcion. The Island Chumash occupied four of the innermost Santa Barbara Channel Islands: Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz. Today, descendants of the Chumash live in areas surrounding their traditional homelands, maintaining their culture.

Name: Chumash. The name comes from a Chumashan word referring only to the people of Santa Cruz Island. Each group had its own name for itself.

Location: The Southern California Coast and the Santa Barbara Channel Islands.

Population: In 1770 between 10,000 and 22,000. In 1920 74 were recorded on the US Census; by 1972 1,925 persons claimed Chumash descent. In the 1990s over 5,000 people claim Chumash descent.

Language Family: Hokan.

First Contact by Euroamericans: 1772 with the building of the first Spanish Catholic mission at San Luis Obispo.

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