The Kumeyaay of Southern California

SIX HUNDRED GENERATIONS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY

After hundreds of years of diligent archaeological research and hard artifactual evidence gleaned from many Southern California indigenous sites, it is widely agreed among scholars that the Kumeyaay (Iipai-Tipai-Diegueño) people have occupied this region for at least 12,000 years, 600 generations!

TIMELINE:

1542 FIRST CONTACT: First European explorer in California, Juan Cabrillo, sailed into what is known today as San Diego Bay and made first contact with the Kumeyaay people.

1769 FIRST SPANISH MISSIONARY: Father Junípero Serra, established the first Franciscan mission in California near the ancient Kumeyaay village of Kosa'aay (Cosoy), known today as Old Town, San Diego.

1848 THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR: The Mexican-American War ended with signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty, between the Mexican and American governments, established the current US-Mexico border and divided California from Mexico. Moreover, it cut the international border through the heart of the Kumeyaay ancestral homelands.

This North American border region is known today as Southern California (County of San Diego) and Baja California Norte (Mexico), and it is located in the extreme southwestern corner of the U.S.A.

MAPS OF KUMEYAAY ANCESTRAL HOMELAND

COMPARED TO PRESENT DAY

Right map highlights the Kumeyaay ancestral territory in gray prior to European immigration — the dots on the modern left map show present-day locations of the thirteen small U.S. Kumeyaay Indian reservations, and four Kumiai Indio tribal community ranches in Baja California, Mexico, at the turn of the 21st century.

DOWNLOAD high-resolution Kumeyaay map for educational use.
Additional historical MAPS OF THE KUMEYAAY (1776-present).
Prehistoric Kumeyaay-Diegueño aboriginal excavated indigenous sites

See our extended KUMEYAAY TIMELINE history essay for more in-depth historical analysis of the Kumeyaay of Southern California.

Kumeyaay — Turn of the 21st Century

KERE AT THE TURN OF THE 21ST CENTURY the 12 surviving North American Kumeyaay bands in the United States are recognized by the federal government as SOVEREIGN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS. Four Kumeyaay tribal communities survive south of the border in Baja California, Mexico.

INDIGENOUS FEMALE MODEL

Citlalli Salazar, Kumiai, a young 18-year-old female ethnographic artist, is pictured wearing an antique Southern California Indian basket hat (probably of desert Cahuilla origin) — her Baja tribal ejido landscape pictured in background, a rare antique painted polychrome Kumeyaay clay pot to right.

Kumeyaay Diegueno Nation Flag Picture...

SOVEREIGN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS

The U.S. Kumeyaay bands are federally-recognized Indian tribes.

As such, the United States federal government recognizes their reservations as sovereign lands, and their tribal councils as sovereign tribal governments.

For more information about tribal sovereignty in America, please see our NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN SOVEREIGNTY GUIDE.

THE KUMEYAAY-DIEGUENO NATION

Kumeyaay Bands of the United States:

Southern California Tribes, 13 Federally-Recognized Kumeyaay Reservations, official tribal websites — click on each band's History and Culture links for their Kumeyaay perspectives directly from their official tribal archivists and historians:

Campo Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians
Barona Band of Mission Indians
San Pasqual Band of Indians
Inaja Cosmit Indian Reservation
Capitan Grande Indian Reservation
Santa Ysabel Band of Diegueño Indians, aka Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel
Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians aka Cuyapaipe
Manzanita Indian Reservation
La Posta Indian Reservation
Jamul Indian Village A Kumeyaay Nation
Mesa Grande Indian Reservation
Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation

HOW TO CONTACT San Diego County Reservations:
BARONA, CAHUILLA, CAMPO, CHEMEHUEVI, EWIIAAPAAYP, INAJA-COSMIT, JAMUL, LA JOLLA, LA POSTA, LOS COYOTES, MANZANITA, MESA GRANDE, PALA, PAUMA, RINCON, SAN PASQUAL, SANTA YSABEL, SYCUAN, VIEJAS

The Baja California, Mexico, Kumiai Bands:

San Jose de la Zorra
La Huerta
Juntas de Neji
San Antonio Necua
Santa Catarina (Kumeyaay-Pai Pai)

KUMEYAAY CASINOS & RESORTS

COMPLETE GUIDE TO KUMEYAAY CASINOS:

Play at the best San Diego County Kumeyaay Indian casinos, resorts, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, golf courses — find the official Kumeyaay casino and tribal websites on our Kumeyaay mapping project maps.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRIBES

COMPLETE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRIBAL INDEX

Maps of the Southern California Indian tribal reservations: Kumeyaay-Diegueno, Luiseño, Cupeño and Cahuilla Indians....

KUMEYAAY CULTURAL RESOURCES

12,000-YEAR HISTORY OF KUMEYAAY in San Diego.

HOW TO RESEARCH Kumeyaay of Southern California.

KUMEYAAY & TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY in the U.S.A.

KUMEYAAY NEWS daily and breaking news blogs.

ETHNOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW of the Kumeyaay.

KUMEYAAY GUIDE a (3rd & 4th grade) Teacher's Guide to Historical and Contemporary Kumeyaay Culture.

WIKIPEDIA probably the largest online research project about the Kumeyaay people.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISTIC DOCUMENTARIES — modern Kumeyaay lifestyle, housing, ethnographic art, indigenous tribal communities of Baja CALIF, MX.

KUMIAI DE BAJA CALIFORNIA MEXICO
KUMIAI DE BAJA CALIF MEXICO en Español Kumiais una cultura en riesgo de extinsión, Acerca de los indigenas Kumiai, Geografia, Sistema Politico, Origenes lingüisticos, Programas de Trabajo, Consejo, Acerca de los indigenas Kumiai, Gobernadora Kumiai, Origenes lingüisticos, y mucho mas....

KUMEYAAY ETHNOGRAPHIC ARTS

KUMEYAAY MUSEUMS-RESEARCH

STORYTELLERS featuring Sam Brown's famous Kumeyaay stories of the Brown-Curo family of Barona and Viejas.

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