California genocide

California genocide
"Protecting The Settlers", illustration by J. R. Browne in The Indians Of California, 1864
Location	California
Date	1846–1873
Target	Indigenous Californians
Attack type	Genocide, ethnic cleansing, human hunting, slavery, rape, Indian removal
Deaths	No more than 2,000 (per Anderson)[1] 4,300 (per Cook)[2] 4,500 (per California Secretary of State)[3] 9,492–16,094 (per Madley)[4] 100,000+ (per Castillo/California Native American Heritage Commission)[5]
Injured	10,000–27,000[6][7] taken as forced laborers by white settlers; 4,000–7,000 of them children[7]
Perpetrators	United States Army, California State Militia, White American settlers

California genocide is the name for a series of systematic killings of thousands of people in California. It happened in the second half of the 19th century. Between 1846 and 1873, agents of the United States government killed indigeonous people. These people had lived in California before the European settlers came. Between 9,492 and 16,094 natives were directly killed. Many more people were either starved, or forced to work until they died. Their number is less clear; estimates range from several hundred to several thousand people.^[4] Acts of enslavement, kidnapping, rape, child separation and forced displacement were widespread. These acts were encouraged, tolerated, and carried out by state authorities and militias.^[8]

The killings started in 1846, when America had conquered California, after a war with Mexico. Many settlers came, because of the California Gold Rush. The native population of California was shrinking already, these factors increased the decline.

The 1925 book Handbook of the Indians of California estimated that the Indigenous population of California decreased from perhaps as many as 150,000 in 1848 to 30,000 in 1870. In 1900, only about 16.000 were left. The decline was caused by disease, low birth rates, starvation, killings, and massacres. California Natives, particularly during the Gold Rush, were targeted in killings.^[9][10][11] Between 10,000 and 27,000^[7] were also taken as forced labor by settlers. The state of California used its institutions to favor white settlers' rights over Indigenous rights, dispossessing natives.^[12]

Since the 2000s several American academics and activist organizations have characterized the period immediately following the U.S. Conquest of California as one in which the state and federal governments waged genocide against the Native Americans in the territory. In 2019, California's governor Gavin Newsom stated, "It's called genocide. That's what it was, a genocide. No other way to describe it. And that's the way it needs to be described in the history books". He also apologized for the "violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history"^[13] and called for a research group to be formed to better understand the topic and inform future generations.^[14]

1. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Nazaryan was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
2. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Magliari2023 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference nisev was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Madley, Benjamin (2016). An American Genocide, The United States and the California Catastrophe, 1846–1873. Yale University Press. pp. 11, 351. ISBN 978-0-300-18136-4.
5. ↑ Cite error: The named reference castdward was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
6. ↑ Cite error: The named reference pritzker was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Exchange Team, The Jefferson. "NorCal Native Writes Of California Genocide". JPR Jefferson Public Radio. Info is in the podcast. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019.
8. ↑ Adhikari, Mohamed (25 July 2022). Destroying to Replace: Settler Genocides of Indigenous Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. pp. 72–115. ISBN 978-1647920548. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
9. ↑ Madley, Benjamin (2016). An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846–1873.
10. ↑ Krell, Dorothy, ed. (1979). The California Missions: A Pictorial History. Menlo Park, California: Sunset Publishing Corporation. p. 316. ISBN 0-376-05172-8.
11. ↑ "California Genocide". Indian Country Diaries. PBS. September 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-05-06.
12. ↑ Lindsay, Brendan C. (2012). Murder State: California's Native American Genocide 1846–1873. United States: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 2, 3. ISBN 978-0-8032-6966-8.
13. ↑ Cowan, Jill (19 June 2019). "'It's Called Genocide': Newsom Apologizes to the State's Native Americans". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
14. ↑ "Governor Newsom Issues Apology to Native Americans for State's Historical Wrongdoings, Establishes Truth and Healing Council". California Governor. 2019-06-18. Retrieved 2023-10-14.