BajaNomad

The Missing People in historty

academicanarchist - 5-22-2004 at 07:09 PM

In all of our discussion of the history of Baja California, and particularly the history of the missions, there is one group that we generally forget, the original inhabitants of the Peninsula. We can take photos of the remains of the missions, but not of the people that lived there. I do not believe that there are any renditions of the native peoples of Baja California, other than TIrsch. However, we do have remarkable illustrations of California natives. I was going through one of the many cds I have burned over the last few years, and ran across five illustrations of California mission Indians executed around 1816. This is one of the most interesting, of a group of neophytes probably from San Francisco mission.

The Indians

jrbaja - 5-22-2004 at 07:26 PM

The La Paz museum has some and I believe if you look up "Inner Explorations- A Journey to the Guaycura Nation" it seems as if they had some renditions as well.
But, if you want, I'm pretty sure that when I go back down, I can get some pictures of some ranchers that look just like that.
And they are pretty proud and sure of their heritage being from Guaycura and Pericue. And I am certainly not going to argue with them about it !:light:

I would like to see photos

academicanarchist - 5-22-2004 at 07:52 PM

Thanks for the offer I would like to see photos of the ranchers.

Illustrations of Baja natives

academicanarchist - 5-23-2004 at 06:21 AM

The web site you suggested contained several illustrations of Guaycuros. However, they were created to illustrate Baegert's book, and the illustrator appears to have taken liberties in some details.

Guaycuros

academicanarchist - 5-23-2004 at 06:21 AM


Tirsch

academicanarchist - 5-23-2004 at 06:23 AM

Tirsch, on the other hand, had spent years with the Guaycuros, and knew intimately how they looked, what they wore, how they arranged their hair, etc. The illustration that I posted at the beginning of the thread was executed around 1816 by a professional artist with a Russian expedition, who actually saw the people he painted.

California Indians Dancing

academicanarchist - 5-23-2004 at 06:46 AM

This is one of the more interesting contemporary images of California natives in the missions.A dance staged for Russian visitors to San Francisco mission.

Fat People or are They

TMW - 5-23-2004 at 09:50 AM

In looking at the pictures above the one thing that strikes me is that they all appear fatter than I would expect. 200+ years ago I would think that people living off the land away from store bought goods would be slim, especially natives that would have to roam daily for food.
Or am I wrong?

startchy diet

academicanarchist - 5-23-2004 at 02:17 PM

Unless they had a diet high in startch. Living in the missions changed their way of life dramatically. The illustration at the top of the thread was about 40 years after the founding of San Francisco mission.

burro bob - 5-24-2004 at 08:27 AM

AA, I printed out the drawing you posted and showed it to my friend Estevan Villvicencio. He admits that the drawing is of him and his family. However he doesn't remember going to any dances at the mission. He also thought that the drawings of him on the backhoe were the most accurate and wants to know if you could those.
Estevan is Pai-Pai, Papago, and Kilewa. Attached is a photo of him. I'll leave it to others to give him dreadlocks and erase the mustache. I think he looks a whole lot like the guy in the middle of the drawing. I am trying to get him to let me photograph his whole family. His wife is also in your drawing.
burro bob

Interesting

academicanarchist - 5-24-2004 at 09:28 AM

The first drawing I posted was done in 1816 at San Francisco. Esteban's family must have been up there for the weekend.