North Canal

Off southern California, the waters among the Channel Islands are stirred by currents from the north and south. The Chumash and Tongva peoples navigated this island world in wooden plank canoes, joining boards with cord and sealing them with a mixture of pine pitch and natural asphalt. By the 1820s, the last of the island Chumash had moved to the mainland, many to Spanish missions near the Santa Barbara Channel.