Kitanemuk

Kitanemuk

Total population
50 (2000) [1]
Regions with significant populations
United States ( California)
Languages
English, formerly Kitanemuk
Religion
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Serrano, Tongva, [1] Tataviam, and Vanyume

The Kitanemuk are an Indigenous people of California and were a tribal village of Kawaiisu people. They traditionally lived in the Tehachapi Mountains and the Antelope Valley area of the western Mojave Desert of Southern California, United States. The Kitanemuk lived in what is now Kern County, California. ^[2] Today, some of the Kitanemuk are enrolled in the federally recognized Tejon Indian Tribe of California.

Language

The Kitanemuk traditionally spoke the Kitanemuk language, a Uto-Aztecan language, ^[2] probably akin to that of the Takic branch and to the Serrano language in particular, as well as the Tongva and Vanyume languages. ^[1] Alice Anderton reconstructed the dead language in 1988 from Harrington's notes. ^[3]

Population

Main article: Population of Native California

Estimates for the precontact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) proposed a population of 1,770 for the Kitanemuk, together with the Serrano and Tataviam, as 3,500. Thomas C. Blackburn and Lowell John Bean (1978:564) estimated the Kitanemuk alone as 500 to 1,000.

The combined population of the Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam in 1910 had fallen to only 150 persons, according to Kroeber.

History

18th century

The Kitanemuk lived in semi-permanent villages. They harvested acorns and vegetables and hunted small game. ^[2]

The Kitanemuk were first contacted by the Franciscan missionary-explorer Francisco Garcés in 1769. ^[1] Some Kitanemuk were recruited and relocated for the Spanish missions of Mission San Fernando Rey de España in the San Fernando Valley, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in the San Gabriel Valley, and perhaps Mission San Buenaventura at the coast in Ventura County. Therefore, they are sometimes grouped with the Mission Indians.

19th century

In 1840, a smallpox epidemic hit the Kitanemuk. ^[1] Beginning in the 1850s, they were associated with the reservations at Fort Tejon and Tule River.

The Kitanemuk moved to the Tejon Ranch Indian community, which never received a reservation. ^[2]

20th century

By 1917, some lived on Tejon Ranch and others lived on the Tule River Reservation, ^[1] located in Tulare County, California.

21st century

One Kitanemuk family still lives on the Tejon Ranch, while others live nearby. ^[2] Others still live on the Tule River Reservation. ^[2]

See also

• Kitanemuk traditional narratives

Notes

1. "Kitanemuk." ^{[ usurped ]}Four Directions Institute. Retrieved 28 Nov 2012.
2. White, Phillip. "Kitanemuk". California Indians and Their Reservations: An Online Dictionary. San Diego State University Library. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
3. Anderton, Alice J. (1988). The language of the Kitanemuks of California (Ph.D.). University of California, Los Angeles.

References

• Sturtevant, William C.; Robert F. Heizer (1978). "Kitanemuk". In William C. Sturtevant; Robert F. Heizer (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 8: California. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 564–569. ISBN   0-16-004574-6. LCCN   77017162.
• Kroeber, Alfred Louis (1976). Handbook of the Indians of California . New York City: Dover Publications. ISBN   0-486-23368-5. OCLC   2972541.

External links

• Tejon Indian Tribe, Bakersfield, CA