SuitabookNative peoples of California
Barbara M. Linde
- Reading
- Use the contents to choose a topic or group, then pause at the maps and fact boxes to compare details. The glossary and further-information section can help with unfamiliar terms or follow-up questions.
- Themes
- Population decline after colonisation: The overview says California’s Native population fell from more than 300,000 when Spanish colonisation began in the late 1700s to 30,000 by 1860, citing disease, poverty and other hardships. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Cultures and communities across time: The contents include creation stories, basket-making, several named peoples and Native groups today; the overview also refers to traditional culture and its influence. The book appears to cover varied cultural practices and communities, but the treatment of their continuity and change is not established.
- Worth knowing
- The overview reports a severe population decline by 1860, attributing it to European diseases, poverty and other hardships. This historical account may merit a conversation about loss and its causes.