Overview
Indian lodges on the west side of the Sacramento River, ca. 1850; Courtesy The Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley
California Before the Europeans
California has always been home to one of the most diverse populations on Earth. Long before the first Europeans saw the California coastline, at least 300,000 native people — divided among 500 groups or tribelets — lived on the coasts, mountains, and plains of this enormous landscape. While they had things in common, each regional group had its own beliefs, tools, clothing, and cultural ways of life. Among them they spoke more than 100 languages.
Where They Came From, Where They Settled
Scientists have long asked where native Californians came from. All agree that their ancestors lived somewhere outside the Americas, but they are not sure where. For decades the leading theory among anthropologists has been that the first Americans came from northeastern Asia more than 10,000 years ago, traveling from Siberia to Alaska over the Bering Strait land bridge.