Yokuts Native Americans

The Yokut Native Americans live in Central California. Historically, the Yokut indigenous peoples consisted of a conglomerate of 40 to 50 different subgroups that consisted of three major divisions: the Northern Valley Yokuts, the Southern Valley Yokuts, and the Foothill Yokuts. The Northern Valley Yokuts historically lived in California along the San Joaquin River as far north as where it bends north between the Calaveras and the Mokelumne rivers, as far north as the Fresno River, and as far east as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The Southern Valley Yokuts traditionally lived along the southern banks of the San Joaquin River and at Tulare Lake. Their traditional homeland stretched as far south as Buena Vista and Kern lakes and the Sierra Nevada foothills in the east. The Foothill Yokuts traditionally lived in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. They lived as far north as the Fresno and San Joaquin rivers and as far south as the Palewyami River. Prior to Euroamerican contact, it has been estimated that the Yokuts numbered between 18,000 and 50,000. Today there are over 2,800 officially registered Yokut Native Americans.

Name: Yokuts, which means “relatives” in the Yawelmani dialect.

Location: Central California in the San Joaquin Valley.

Population: Prior to Euroamerican contact upwards of 50,000; today there are over 2,800 Yokut Native Americans.

Language Family: Dialects of Penutian.

First Contact by Euroamericans: In 1772 by Spaniard Pedro Fages and his soldiers.

Current Tribal Status: Most Yokuts live on three federally recognized rancherias: the Picayune, the Table Mountain, and the Santa Rose, and on one reservation, the Tule River Reservation.

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