California Genocide

The California Genocide is the decrease in the indigenous population of California due to violence, relocation and starvation as a result of the U.S occupation of California. The indigenous population of California under Spanish rule dropped from 300,000 prior to 1769, to 250,000 in 1834. After Mexico won its independence from Spain, and after the secularization of the coastal missions by the Mexican government in 1834, the indigenous population suffered a much more drastic decrease in population. The period immediately following the U.S. conquest of California has been characterized by numerous sources as a genocide. Under US sovereignty, after 1848, the Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000 in 1870 and reached its nadir of 16,000 in 1900.

Prior to Spanish arrival, California was home to an indigenous population estimated at 300,000, with the largest group being the Chumash people with a population around 20,000. The diversity of the region was evident in the numerous distinct languages spoken. Even with the great diversity in the area, archeological findings show little evidence of intertribal conflicts.

The various groups appear to have adapted to its particular area. California supported an abundance of wildlife, including rabbits, deer, varieties of fish, and acorns. This resulted in a high level of food independence and allowed the natives to engage in a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, moving around their area as food was available.

California was one of the last regions in the Americas to be colonized. Spanish missionaries led by Franciscan administrator Junipero Serra and military forces under the command of Gaspar de Portola arrived in 1769. The goal of this mission was to spread the Christian faith among the region's indigenous peoples. They built the first of 21 missions, San Diego de Alcalá, in present-day San Diego. Military outposts were constructed alongside the missions to house the soldiers sent to protect the missionaries.

Mexican sovereignty over Alta California was short lived, as after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed to end the Mexican-American War, the U.S. took control of California, and in the latter half of the 19th century both State and Federal authorities, incited aided and financed miners, settlers, ranchers and people`s militias to enslave, kidnap, murder and exterminate a major proportion of displaced Native American Indians, sometimes contemptuously referred to as "Diggers", using many of the same policies of violence against the indigenous population that it did throughout its territory.

...
Wikipedia