Cupeño

Cupeño
Kuupangaxwichem

The territorial boundaries of the Southern California Indian tribes based on dialect, including the Cupeño language
Total population
(1000 (1990))
Regions with significant populations
United States (California)
Languages
English, Spanish, formerly Cupeño language
Religion
Traditional tribal religion, Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant)
Related ethnic groups
Cahuilla, Luiseño, Serrano, and Tongva

The Cupeño are a Native American tribe from Southern California. Their name in their own language is Kuupangaxwichem.

They traditionally lived about 50 miles (80 km) inland and 50 miles (80 km) north of the modern day U.S.-Mexico border in the Peninsular Range of Southern California. Today their descendants are members of the federally recognized tribes known as the Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, Morongo Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians, and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians.

Several different groups combined to form Cupeño culture around 1000 to 1200 CE. They were closely related to Cahuilla culture. The Cupeño people traditionally lived in the mountains in the San Jose Valley at the headwaters of the San Luis Rey River. They lived in two autonomous villages, Wilákalpa and Kúpa, also spelled Cupa, located north of present-day Warner Springs, California. They also lived at Agua Caliente, located east of Lake Henshaw in an area crossed by State Highway 79 near Warner Springs. The 200-acre (0.81 km²) Cupeño Indian village site is now abandoned but evidence of its historical importance remains.

Spaniards entered Cupeño lands in 1795 and took control of the lands by the 19th century. After Mexico achieved independence, its government granted Juan Jose Warner, a naturalized American-Mexican citizen, nearly 45,000 acres (180 km²) of the land on November 28, 1844. Warner, like most other large landholders in California at the time, depended primarily on Indian labor. The villagers of Kúpa provided most of Warner's workforce on his cattle ranch. The Cupeño continued to reside at what the Spanish called Agua Caliente after the American occupation of California in 1847 to 1848, during the Mexican-American War. They built an adobe ranch house in 1849 and barn in 1857, which are still standing.