1867: Violent settlers speed demise of northern California tribe
The Yana tribe, a small group of about 1,900 living in the Sacramento River valley in northern California, is destroyed. Epidemics and forced removals contribute to their decline, but attacks by settlers over two decades speed the tribe’s demise. After an 1867 massacre of 45 Yana, witnesses say the bodies lay on the ground because there were not enough Yana left to bury the dead.
- Theme
- Epidemics, Land and Water
- Region
- California
Ishi, 1914. The last surviving Yana fled to the Sierra foothills after the 1867 massacre, where they lived hidden in the mountain wilderness for 40 years. In 1911, the last known member of the Yana walked out of the hills. He became known as “Ishi” (meaning “man,” the “last of the Yana”). Ishi lived for five more years and died in 1916.
Courtesy Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California