Miwok

The Miwok of the Sierra slope and the Sacramento plains were the largest of the four linguistically related Miwok peoples, whose Utian languages give their name, Miwok, meaning people. Their villages dotted the western Sierra Nevada from the Fresno River to the Cosumnes and spread into the Sacramento delta marshes.

They lived in autonomous bands without chiefs, harvesting black-oak acorns, burning undergrowth to promote useful plants and weaving baskets. Their religion centered on Coyote the creator, the sacred Mount Diablo and the Kuksu dance cult.

Contact began in 1769, and between 1812 and 1833 most Plains Miwok bands were drawn, by attraction or force, to Mission San Jose. The malaria epidemic of 1833 devastated the valley villages; when the missions were secularized from 1834, many Miwok returned to their home streams.