History of California

It is believed that humans arrived in California from north-east Asia about 12,000 years ago. They divided and separated into groups that chose different areas to settle. This included the Chahuilla, Chumash, Gabrielino, Karok, Maidu, Miwok, Wintu and Yokut tribes. The anthropologist, Alfred L. Kroeber, has argued that large tribes were rare in California. He claimed that most lived in "tribelets" that contained up to 500 people.

Kevin Starr, the author of California (2005) has argued that by the 15th century "something approaching one third of all Native Americans living within the present day boundaries of the continental United States - which is to say, more than three hundred thousand people - are estimated to have been living within the present-day boundaries of California."

History of California