Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: Culture Contact in Protohistoric California Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection # of Pages: 33 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-09-03 13:53:50 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:58 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 03:11:58

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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3 resulted in ne (Novems who main>rsuaded by . their bows . The other etween Nod 20 natives od from the vaniards for: ensuing alas wounded during Vizively peaceJed the sailinta Barbara 1 edict from respect (isn still expeh sides that occurred on of Serros, ere broken, d by armed h took place imon y San ttempted to bottles. In on the nad wounding example of 7ebruary 6, 1 of Serros, island con) water and scare them , 1603, the ‘anta Catalihip, the San if responses ters in Cali: considered CULTURE CONTACT IN PROTOHISTORIC CALIFORNIA 147 herein: (1) the role of information exchange and oral tradition in predisposing native responses; (2) the critical position that ceremonial practices played in structuring responses on both sides; and (3) the timing of encounters, especially in relation to the native and Christian ceremonial calendars. Information Exchange and Oral Tradition Regional exchange and communication networks were used by native peoples to announce the coming of strangers across an extensive area of Baja California, southern Alta California, northwest Mexico, and possibly the American Southwest. While slowly tacking up the California coast from ports in west Mexico, the expeditions of Cabrillo-Ferrelo and Vizcaino witnessed firsthand the scale of this communication system when they were repeatedly told by native peoples about armed men like them who had been seen in the interior. While it is possible that these stories were fabricated by native groups to entice the Spaniards to leave their territories, the number and consistency of the reports suggest otherwise. Cabrillo and his men were told about foreigners on eight separate occasions in seven different places spanning from Baja California to the Santa Barbara Channel (Quinn 1979a:453457). Cabrillo evidently believed that they were referring-to Alarc6n’s convoy up the Colorado River or Coronado’s entrada through the American Southwest, since he sent letters and even men to.them. Similarly, Vizcaino and his crew were told about men in the interior who were clothed and armed as they were while at anchorages at Eleven Thousand Virgins and San Diego Bay (Wagner 1929:226; Quinn 1979d:419). Regional communication channels broadcast the coming of the voyagers up the coast of California. This is clearly demonstrated by the December 2, 1602, visit of the ‘“‘petty king’’ to Vizcaino’s ship via a canoe from the Santa Barbara mainland, when he had been informed of the pending arrival of the Spaniards from people on Santa Catalina Island (Wagner 1929:239240). Furthermore, previous encounters with foreign strangers had been incorporated into native oral traditions. Vizcaino was told about a previous shipwreck in California waters by a woman on Santa Catalina Island, who even showed him two pieces of decorated China silk salvaged from the ship (Bolton 1916:85). Vizcaino and his men were also told by the people at Cabo de San Lucas about the English capture of the Santa Ana by Thomas Cavendish in 1588, and about earlier encounters with Spaniards under the Marqués del Valle and Don Fernando Cortés (possibly referring to the aborted colony of Puerto de la Paz established nearby in 1535) (Wagner 1929:194). The existence of broad-scale exchange and communication networks is important for understanding native responses to the voyagers for two reasons. First, extended sailing expeditions up the coast of California were likely trumpeted well ahead of their slow advance. The emergence of Cabrillo’s and Vizcaino’s ships on the horizon probably surprised no one. Coastal peoples were doubtlessly warned well in advance of European sailing expeditions that were tediously working their way up the shoreline from Mexico. However, this advance warning system would not have come into play during the initial landfalls of ships sailing from the North Pacific, East Asia, or the Philippines (e.g., Cermefio) that had made no previous contacts in California. Second, stories of strangers widely transmitted through regional communication networks, as well as oral traditions of local groups, influenced native reactions to the voyagers. AS noted above, Cabrillo’s crew observed local people fleeing from their ships. When asked why they fled, some natives communicated to the Spaniards that similar armed men were killing Indians inland (Quinn 1979a:455). Cabrillo’s men did little to reduce the apprehension of the locals by repeatedly capturing individuals for in-