Mono

The Mono Native American peoples (also known as the Western Mono or the Monache) historically inhabited the middle slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California, in roughly today’s Madera and Fresno counties. The mono historically consisted of six subgroups: the Northfork Mono, the Entimbich, the Michahay, the Waksachi, the Wobonuch, and the Patwisha, whose cultural origins lay closely with the Great Basin indigenous peoples to the east. The Mono spoke a language classified under the Uto-Aztecan language family, but they were also close to the Penutian of the Yokuts. Prior to Euroamerican colonization, the Mono Native Americans are estimated to have numbered around 2,000 people; today there are 1,697 registered Mono Native Americans. Today the Mono live in areas around their traditional homelands and maintain aspects of their culture.

Name: Mono, Western Mono, Monache. Subgroups include the Northfork, Entimbich, Michahay, Waksachi, Wobonuch, and Patwisha. Alternative names for the groups are Posgisa and Holkoma.

Location: Sierra Nevada Mountains of Eastern California.

Population: Approximately 2,000 prior to Euroamerican contact, today around 1,700.

Language Family: Uto-Aztecan.

First Contact by Euroamericans: In the 1850s by settlers and prospectors.

Current Tribal Status: Today the Mono Native Americans are concentrated around Dunlap and North Fork and the rancherias of Cold Springs and Big Sandy. The Cold Springs Rancheria is federally recognized, the other Mono Native Americans do not have federal status.

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