Serrano

The Serrano Native Americans inhabited an ecologically and topographically diverse territory that encompassed the rugged San Bernadino Mountains east of Cajon Pass and the scrub desert to the east near present-day Twenty Nine Palms in California. Historically there was no collective name for these indigenous peoples, the word serrano means “mountaineers” in Spanish; the indigenous people themselves used the word ta:qtam to refer to all indigenous peoples. Prior to Euroamerican contact the Serrano are estimated to have numbered around 1,500; today there are 295 recognized Serrano Native Americans.

Name: Serrano.

Location: Around the San Bernadino Mountains east of Cajon Pass and a western portion of the Mojave Desert.

Population: Prior to Euroamerican contact around 1,500; today there are 295 registered Serrano.

Language Family: Uto-Aztecan.

First Contact by Euroamericans: In the 1770s when Junipero Serra was founding missions and Padre Francisco Garces was traveling from the Colorado River to Mission San Gabriel.

Current Tribal Status: Today, most Serrano Native Americans live on the San Manuel and Morongo Reservations.

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