Chumashan

The Chumash lived on the central and southern California coast, from Morro Bay to Malibu, with the northern Channel Islands. They lived in more than 150 independent villages that spoke variants of one language, and were known as bead makers. The rich waters of the Santa Barbara Channel fed villages that traded with peoples as far away as Arizona.

Juan Cabrillo met the coastal villages in 1542, but Spanish settlement began only in 1769. Between 1772 and 1817 most Chumash entered the Franciscan missions, beginning with San Luis Obispo, and disease and mission life cut their numbers sharply. The Chumash Revolt of 1824 began at Mission Santa Inés.