SUNDOG
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Indigenous Baja
Indigenous Baja
HISTORY
Indigenous Baja
By John P. Schmal
The Baja California Peninsula is located in the northwestern portion
of the Mexican Republic. This body of land extends approximately 775
miles (1,250 kilometers) from Tijuana in the north to Cabo San Lucas
in the south and is separated from the rest of Mexico by the Gulf of
California (also called the sea of Cortés). Occupying the northern
half of the peninsula, the state of Baja California shares its
northern boundary with two American states, California and Arizona,
and is also bordered on its northeast by the Mexican state of
Sonora. On its western flank, the state also shares a long coastline
with the Pacific Ocean.
Baja California occupies a total area of 69,921 square kilometers
(26,990 square miles), which makes up 3.7% of Mexico's national
territory. On Baja California's southern border is another Mexican
state, Baja California Sur, which occupies a total area of 71,428
square kilometers (25,751 square miles), taking up 3.7% of the
national territory.
The story of the indigenous peoples of the Baja Peninsula is a sad
one. Living in an arid environment, their susceptibility to the
ravages of war and disease was accentuated by their already marginal
existence. The vast majority of the Baja Indians have disappeared
and those that have survived in the north are represented by as few
as a dozen individuals or as many as a few hundred. Ironically, most
of the Mexican indigenous languages spoken in the two Bajas are
actually tongues brought to the Peninsula by migrant workers from
other states, in particular Oaxaca.
Early Contacts Between Spaniards and Indigenous Inhabitants
In 1532 – a decade after the destruction of the Aztec Empire – the
Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés sent an expedition commanded by his
cousin, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, to explore the Baja California
Peninsula and other locations along the Pacific coastline of
northwest México. A second expedition to the area left Santiago,
Colima, on October 29, 1533. The voyage was a disastrous failure, but
mutineers from this expedition explored the area now called La Paz.
In April 1535, Cortés himself led a third expedition of three ships
that landed near present-day La Paz on May 3, 1535, where he formally
took possession of the land for the King of Spain. Cortés founded a
small colony in the area, but the local Indians remained very hostile
towards the visitors. By November 1535, more than 70 of Cortés' men
had died from starvation or skirmishes with the indigenous population.
Early in 1536, Cortés posted 30 Spaniards to man the small colony and
sailed back for Mexico. A fourth expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa
in June 1539 found that the small colony had been destroyed. Other
expeditions followed, but they frequently encountered large groups of
natives who strongly resisted their intrusions. For this reason, the
colonization and settlement of the Baja Peninsula was a very slow
process, complicated by the hostility of the indigenous groups and
the great distance from sources of supply, as well as by inhospitable
weather conditions.
Indigenous Groups at Contact
At the time of contact, Baja California Norte was primarily inhabited
by several indigenous groups belonging to the Yuman language branch
of the Hokan linguistic family. Most of these early inhabitants
lived by hunting and fishing, but some of them also gathered acorns,
seeds, prickly pears, apples, pine nuts and other small edible plants
found in the harsh desert environment.
The northernmost aboriginal Baja Californians spoke several closely-
related Yuman languages, most notably the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay
(Kumiai), and Cocopá (Cucapá) tongues. Using the controversial
technique of glottochronology, it has been estimated that the initial
separation of the Yuman family into different languages occurred
perhaps 2,500 years ago. The Cocopá and Kumiai languages are believed
to be very closely related to each other, separated by perhaps about
one thousand years of independent development.
Pai Pai
The Pai Pai Indians – also known as Akwa'ala – occupied the northern
Sierras in the interior of the northern Baja California Peninsula.
Their original territory included the lower Colorado River Valley in
the present day municipios of Ensenada and Mexicali, as well as
adjacent areas in western Arizona, southern California, and
northwestern Sonora.
Kumeyaay (Kumiai)
The Kumiai (Kumeyaay) Indians were hunters, gatherers and fishers who
inhabited coastal, inland valley, and mountain regions along the
present-day Baja California border region with the United States.
The traditional Kumeyaay territory originally extended from around
Escondido in California to the northern part of the present day
municipio of Ensenada. Occupying the southern section of present-day
San Diego County in California, the Kumeyaay inhabited the region
near the San Diego Presidio when it was founded in 1769. The Kumeyaay
in the vicinity of San Diego were also referred to as the Diegueño by
the Spaniards.
Cochimí
The Cochimí Indians inhabited a considerable part of the central Baja
Peninsula, from north of Rosario to the vicinity of Loreto in east
central Baja California. Like many of the other Baja tribes, the
Cochimí Indians survived by fishing in the coastal areas and
gathering fruits and seeds for sustenance in other areas.
Cucapás (Cocopá)
The Cucapás, living in the desert region along the Colorado River in
the frontier zone of Baja California Norte and Sonora, fished and
hunted deer, rabbit, moles, mountain lion and coyote. They also
collected a wide variety of desert products, including cactus
flowers, potatoes, and wild wheat.
Kiliwa
The Kiliwa Indians were hunters who inhabited northeastern Baja
California. The Kiliwa lived along the eastern slope of the Sierra
San Pedro Mártir and ranged down the Gulf Coast. Their habitat also
extended into the Colorado Desert.
Guaycura (Guaicura or Waicuri)
The Guaycuras lived in the middle part of the lower Baja peninsula,
inhabiting the Magdalena Plains from Loreto down to and including the
La Paz area.
Pericú
The Pericú occupied the southern tip of the peninsula around San José
del Cabo and several large Gulf islands, including Cerralvo, Espíritu
Santo, San José, and Santa Catalina.
The Colonization of Baja California Sur
In 1596, King Felipe II of Spain ordered the colonization of the Baja
California Peninsula. Six years later, Sebastián Vizcaíno made his
famous voyage to Baja, exploring the present-day site of Cabo San
Lucas, where he was confronted by a force of 800 native warriors.
Vizcaíno managed to build a fort at La Paz, but after a skirmish with
local natives, the post had to be abandoned by the Spaniards.
In 1683, Admiral Isidro Atondo y Antillón led a state-sponsored
expedition to Baja and established a settlement at La Paz. However,
according to Mr. Laylander, the settlement "was abandoned after a few
months because of escalating conflicts with the native inhabitants."
Another post was established at San Bruno, north of Loreto, but was
also abandoned in 1685 "because of meager local resources and
uncertain outside supplies."
In October 1697, Jesuit missionaries started arriving in the southern
Baja peninsula with the intention of establishing missions. On
October 19, 1697, Father Juan María de Salvatierra established the
first permanent mission in Baja California Sur, dedicating it with
the name of Our Lady of Loreto de Concho, near present-day Loreto,
Baja California Sur. Between 1697 and 1767, Jesuit missionaries would
establish sixteen missions throughout the length of the Baja
Peninsula.
The Jesuit missions played an integral role in the Christianizing of
the indigenous peoples. However, to accomplish their objectives, the
missionaries resettled and congregated many of their converts in
rancherías that were located close to the missions. Although this
practice was effective in enforcing religious instruction, tribute
collection, and the organization of a work force, the concentration
of the natives had a devastating effect on the aboriginal groups and
made them more susceptible to smallpox, typhus, measles and other
infectious diseases.
Don Laylander, in "The Linguistic Prehistory of Baja California," has
written that "the linguistic map of Baja California underwent
dramatic changes during the historic period, culminating in the
extinction of many of its aboriginal languages. Before extinction,
prehistoric lifeways were altered in a myriad of ways, through such
factors as externally-introduced epidemic diseases, military
conflicts, and the relocation of populations to mission settlements."
The most serious epidemic was the typhus epidemic of 1742-1744, which
probably killed 8,000 Indians. During the following decades, entire
tribes disappeared, while small bands of Pericú, Guaycura, and
Cochimí – struggled to survive in the south.
The Revolts of 1734-1744
The most serious rebellion in the southern part of the Baja Peninsula
took place in 1734-1737. This uprising of the Pericú and Guaycuras
engulfed several missions in the southern part of the peninsula, most
of which had to be abandoned. In January 1735, indigenous forces
ambushed the Manila Galleon that had stopped at San José del Cabo for
supplies. "The revolt and its subsequent suppression," according to
Don Laylander, "hastened the disorganization and declines of the
southern aboriginal groups.
To suppress the revolt, the Jesuits were forced to call in outside
military assistance." In 1742, King Felipe V authorized the use of
royal funds to suppress the revolt. The arrival of a military force
from Sinaloa helped to restore order and reestablish control of the
southern Baja lands. The last scattered resistance to the Spaniards
did not end until 1744.
The Expulsion of the Jesuits
In June 1767, King Carlos III of Spain expelled all the Jesuit
missionaries from México. Eventually, the Dominicans continued the
missionary efforts of the Jesuits, especially in the territories of
the Cochimí, Kiliwa, Paipai, and Kumeyaay. However, by this time,
southern Baja's indigenous populations had declined to the point of
no return. Don Laylander explains that "in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, the role of aboriginal peoples in the
peninsula's history has become increasingly marginal. In the central
and southern portions of the peninsula, culturally distinct
aboriginal populations had disappeared before 1900."
The Kiliwa were one of the few Baja groups that was able to hang on,
albeit precariously. In 1840, the Kiliwa, who lived in Baja's
northeast corner, successfully rebelled against the Dominicans and
fled into quiet isolation. This seclusion enabled the Kiliwa to
survive into the Twentieth Century. In 1938, University of California
Berkeley anthropologist, Peveril Meigs, searched the entire Baja
Peninsula for surviving bands. At that time, he located and did
studies on a small band of about fifty Kiliwa living in the east-
facing canyons of northern Baja's mountains.
Political Chronology
In January 1824, after the Mexican Republic was constituted, the
central government organized and oversaw the Territory of Baja.
Twenty four years later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – which
ended the Mexican-American War – divided the territory of California,
with the northern half, called Alta California, being ceded to the
United States, while the southern half remained with Mexico as Baja
California.
On April 26, 1850, two partidos (secondary administrative divisions)
were created as Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur. On
December 14, 1887, the status of both partidos was changed to
distritos (districts), and on January 1, 1888, the northern part of
the peninsula became known as the Northern District of Baja
California. On December 30, 1930, the separate territories of Baja
California Norte and Baja California Sur were created, effective
February 7, 1931. The northern territory became a state on January
16, 1952, while the southern Baja State achieved statehood on October
24, 1974.
Indigenous Groups of the Twentieth Century
By the end of the Nineteenth Century, the aboriginal population of
the entire Baja Peninsula had been severely depleted. Up until the
1910 census, the population statistics for Baja California Sur and
Baja California Norte were tallied together as one jurisdiction.
According to the 1895 Mexican census, some 2,150 individuals spoke
indigenous languages in Baja California. However, this tally dropped
to 1,111 at the time of the 1900 census.
The indigenous speaking population for the Baja territories dropped
further in 1910 to 711, representing only 1.36% of the total
population. Although most of the indigenous speakers spoke languages
indigenous to other states, 96 Cochimí speakers were counted. Yaqui-
speaking individuals (primarily from the state of Sonora) were
tallied at 65, while Otomí speakers from central México numbered 40.
The 2000 Census
According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years of
age and more in the northern state of Baja California who spoke
indigenous languages amounted to 37,685 individuals. These
individuals spoke at least forty-five languages from Mexico and
United States but represented only 1.87% of the total state
population 5 years of age and older (2,010,869).
Interestingly, the great majority of the indigenous-speakers in Baja
California Norte in 2000 were actually transplants from other parts
of the Mexican Republic. The largest language groups represented
were the Mixteco (11,962 speakers), Zapoteco (2,987), Náhuatl
(2,165), and Purépecha (2,097), and Triqui (1,437), all languages
that are indigenous to other parts of the Mexican Republic.
Transplanted Languages
As a matter of fact, 2000 census statistics indicate that 1,025,754
of the 2,487,367 residents of Baja California Norte were, in fact,
natives of other entities, representing a total migrant population of
41.2%. In the 2000 census, 41,014 persons in Baja claimed Oaxaca as
their birthplace, and it is likely that most of the 11,962 Mixtecos
and 2,987 Zapotecos living in the state were probably natives of that
state. Already, in the 1970s, Baja had become a major zone of
attraction for Mixtec farm laborers, with Ensenada and Tijuana as
their primary destination points. Baja California growers almost
exclusively recruited Oaxacans laborers for their agricultural labor
needs. An additional 89,083 residents of Baja claimed Michoacán de
Ocampo as their birthplace, possibly explaining the substantial
number of Purépecha-speaking individuals living in the state (2,097).
Native Baja California Tribes in 2000
Unfortunately, the Indian groups indigenous specifically to Baja
California never recovered from their initial declines of the
Seventeenth Century and are few in number. The primary native
speakers of indigenous languages in Baja California Norte in the 2000
census were the Pai-Pai (193 speakers); Kumiai (159); Cucapá (82);
Cochimí (80), and Kiliwa (46 people). All of these tribes were of the
Yuman Linguistic family whose ancestors had probably migrated to the
Baja Peninsula thousands of years earlier.
The Pai Pai, living in the Santa Catarina community of the Ensenada
municipio in the north, had become bilingual and concerns have been
expressed that their language is nearly dead.
Estimates of the Kumiai population in Mexico at the end of the
Twentieth Century put their numbers at 600. However, by 2000, the
Mexican census recorded only 159 persons five years of age and older
who actually spoke the Kumiai language in the state and all but 13 of
these also spoke Spanish and were thus bilingual. Most of the Kumiai
lived near Tecate.
The Cochimí culture – located primarily in the central and southern
parts of Baja California – also declined dramatically by beginning of
the Nineteenth Century. By 2000, only 80 Cochimí speakers were
registered as inhabitants of the northern Baja state, most of them
living in the municipios of Ensenada, Mexicali, and Tecate. In the
2000 census, only 46 persons were classified as speakers of the
Kiliwa language. Readers who are interested in studying more detailed
information about the nearly extinct indigenous languages of Baja
California can learn more by accessing the Ethnologue website at the
following link:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX
Indigenous Speakers of Baja California Sur
In the 2000 census, the government classified 5,353 inhabitants 5
years of age or more as speakers of more than fifty Indian languages.
However, these indigenous speakers represented a mere 0.22% of the
total population of the same age group. The primary groups were the
Mixteco (1,955), Náhuatl (987), Zapoteco (606), and Amuzgo (126),
Trique (113), and Purépecha (106), all imports from the Mexican
states of Oaxaca, Michoacán and Guerrero.
Oaxaca Migrants
In the same census, it was reported that 137,928 of the residents of
Baja Sur (out of the total population of 424,041) were born in other
political entities, indicating that migrants represented 32.5% of the
total population of the state. Today, the Mixteco and Zapoteco
Indians are the only significant indigenous languages spoken in Baja
California Sur. It is likely that most of the 1,955 Mixtecos and 606
Zapotecos living in Baja were probably born in Oaxaca. In the 2000
census, 8,083 persons in Baja Sur claimed Oaxaca as their birthplace,
while another 8,564 listed Michoacán as their birthplace, the
original home of the Purépecha language.
The use of Oaxacan migrant labor in Baja California Sur has been a
well-established practice since the 1970s. For more than thirty
years, many Baja California growers have recruited Oaxacans almost
exclusively, with La Paz as a major destination for most Mixteco
laborers.
Copyright © 2007, by John P. Schmal. All Rights Reserved.
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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Baja people
Interesting post. I hope the rest of the scholorship is better than the math in the second paragraph.
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SUNDOG
Nomad
Posts: 176
Registered: 8-9-2006
Location: Baja
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Indigenous Baja
Good observation, I noticed that my self but can't change the article. I wonder where the proof readers were.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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The peninsula was called California, first. I am wondering why he didn't make clear the term 'Baja' (Lower) wasn't used for the peninsula part until
the 1800's. It was the original California of Spanish legends... first an island then later a peninsula.
Once Mexico took over from Spain, then politically the names Baja and Alta California stuck... to seperate the huge territory from Cabo to Canada!
When all that territory north of the peninsula was occupied by the Americans the name became California and not 'Alta California' anymore.
Mexico eventually halved the territory again into Baja California and Baja California Sur...
So, the place where Capitan Cortez landed went from being California to Baja California to Baja California Sur!
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