A Brief History

People have lived in the Santa Barbara area for at least 10,000 years, and were dependent on marine shellfish and small seeds until about 5,000 years ago, when acorns became the primary resource. Beginning about 3,000 years ago, the people now identified as Chumash experienced a dramatic expansion in population and cultural complexity. By about 800 years ago, craft specialization increased, and populations grew to a density of about ten people per square mile. By the time of European contact in the mid-1500s, the Chumash were organized into chiefdoms, with a monetary economy (discussed below), large permanent villages (of more than 1,000 people each), extensive craft specialization, intervillage confederacies, and long-distance trade.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer, first contacted the Chumash in 1542 during a brief visit as he sailed north. There was intermittent contact with Europeans over the next two hundred years, but with little apparent impact to the Chumash. With the introduction of the mission system in 1769 (see Sidelight in Chapter 2), the Spanish were in California to stay, and the first mission in the Chumash area was established in 1772. By 1804, four more missions had been built in Chumash territory; the largest (in terms of population) founded in Santa Barbara in 1786 (see Johnson 1989). The missions were located near the coast, in the midst of the highest Chumash population concentrations. Once the missions became established, a variety of European trade goods (glass beads, metal tools, and foods) were introduced to the Chumash, who quickly came to desire such goods. The Chumash did not readily accept Christianity, but the Spanish made every effort to convert as many Chumash people as possible, and many natives moved to the missions (see Larson et al. 1994).

As populations congregated at the missions, conditions became crowded and unsanitary. European crowd diseases swept through the Chumash (see Walker et al. 1992), including a severe measles epidemic that devastated the Chumash in 1806. Large numbers of Chumash, particularly children, died from these diseases. Venereal diseases were also major problems. The precipitous loss of population almost wiped out the Chumash.

Some of the Spaniards treated the Chumash very harshly, even to the protestation of some of the mission authorities, and there were several minor Indian revolts. A major uprising took place in 1824, after California had become part of Mexico. This revolt spread to several missions and was later resolved after concessions were made on both sides. While most Chumash returned, the missions in the Chumash region never returned to their prerevolt importance. The missions were secularized in 1834, with much of the land passing into the hands of ranchers. As many Chumash had been raised in the missions and were unfamiliar with any other way of life, they had little choice but to work for the ranchers; thus, many became isolated from other Chumash and their traditions (see Johnson 1993). The arrival of the Americans after 1848 only made matters worse for the Chumash and the rest of the California Indians.

Information provided by the education department at Penn State