Tribal offices are located near the Augustine Casino in Coachella, California
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Total population | |
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2010: 11 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States ( California) | |
Languages | |
English | |
Related ethnic groups | |
other Cahuilla tribes |
The Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians is a federally recognized Cahuilla band of Native Americans based in Coachella, California. They are one of the smallest tribal nation in the United States, consisting of only eight members, only one of whom is an adult. As of the 2010 census, the tribe had expanded its members to eleven.
According to interviews with Augustine Elders in the winter of 1924–1925, the tribe is of the Nanxaiyem clan of Pass Cahuilla. Francisco Nombre, a Desert Cahuilla ceremonial leader and keeper of traditional clan genealogy, stated that the Nanxaiyem migrated to the Coachella Valley around 1860 and their survivors settled at La Mesa, the flat land east of La Quinta, California. There, according to Nombre, they became known as Augustin [sic]. There are over a dozen Pass Cahuilla clans, traditionally following patrilineal descent, and are divided into the Wildcat and Coyote moieties, inhabiting the San Gorgonio Pass eastward to Indian Wells and westward to San Timoteo Canyon. The Nanxaiyem Clan of Augustine Reservation is Coyote moiety.
On April 13, 1956 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs approved a census roll of the tribe, documenting 11 living members. Roberta Augustine, the last original enrollee, died in 1986. The reservation of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians is a one-square-mile (2.6 km2) tract of land, located in Riverside County, California at 33°39′01″N 116°11′27″W / 33.65028°N 116.19083°W. Thermal, California and the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians are both nearby. The land was left vacant for half a century, until Chairman Green moved there in 1996.