California genocide

During the **California genocide** (1846-1873), government agents, private militias, and ordinary people killed thousands of indigenous people in California. These were systematic killings: people organized them and meant to commit them.

Historians do not agree on how many indigenous people were killed in the genocide. Some say it was between 9,492 and 16,094 people. Others say that over 100,000 were killed.

White settlers also kidnapped between 10,000 and 27,000 natives for forced labor. Hundreds to thousands of natives starved or were worked to death.

State authorities encouraged, tolerated, and committed these acts. In 2019 the Governor of California admitted that the state's government had participated in the California genocide, and he apologized.

## Beginnings

The genocide began in 1846, right after the United States took control of California. Before that, California was a province of Mexico called _Alta California_. However, when America won the Mexican-American War in 1846, they conquered California. The killings started that same year and continued until 1873.

In 1848, just two years after the genocide began, the California Gold Rush started. Over the next seven years, around 300,000 people from all over the world traveled to California to look for gold. Meanwhile, the indigenous population in California was already declining. These factors together were disastrous for indigenous Californians.

## Statistics

The 1925 book _Handbook of the Indians of California_ estimated that the indigenous population of California was:

- 150,000 in 1848
- 30,000 in 1870
- 16,000 in 1900

## Acts of genocide

State authorities, private militias, emigrants, and settlers committed various acts of genocide. These included:

- Killing and massacring native Californians (especially during the Gold Rush)
- Kidnapping between 10,000 and 27,000 indigenous people for forced labor
- Raping indigenous people
- Separating them from their children
- Forcing them to leave their lands

The state of California used its institutions to take away indigenous people's lands. For example, the courts viewed white settlers' rights as more important than indigenous rights, and they made court decisions based on that belief.

## Timeline

The following is a rough timeline of some of the key events and policies that contributed to the genocide. It is by no means comprehensive.

### Before 1848

In 1769, colonizers from the Spanish Empire established a mission system in California. Many Native Americans were forced to change religions and/or enslaved in these missions.

In the Mexican War of Independence (1821-1823), Mexico gained its independence from Spain and took control of California.  The new government continued the Spanish government's policies of forcing indigenous people to convert and using them for forced labor.

California was a Mexican province until 1848, until the United States won the Mexican–American War (1846-1848) and annexed California. Settlers and the U.S. military formed an alliance. Some indigenous people joined them, even though the military had murdered many natives.

### After 1848

Gold was discovered in California in 1848. Over the next seven years, around 300,000 people from all over the world emigrated to California. These "settlers" formed militias to kill indigenous people and force them off their lands so they could take those lands for themselves.

In 1850 the California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was passed. This law made it legal to enslave Native Americans, allowing settlers to capture them and force them into labor. From 1851-1852 in the Sierra Nevada region, the Mariposa War forced more Native Americans off their lands.

From 1851–1869, California paid bounties (rewards) to people who killed Native Americans.

In the 1860s, the federal government began a policy of forced removal. They forced Native Americans to leave their lands and live on reservations. This led to violence and displacement.

Between the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Californian government forcibly removed indigenous children from their families and placed them in boarding schools. There, they were abused and forced to assimilate.

In 1909 the California state government established the California Eugenics Record Office. It gathered records of women who the government considered "unfit" - including "Black, Latino and Indigenous women who were incarcerated or in state institutions for people with disabilities". It suggested forcibly sterilizing these women (forcing them have surgery so they could never get pregnant).

## Recognition

Since the 2000s, most American academics and many activist organizations have used the word "genocide" to refer to this period of time. 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. And so I'm here to say the following: I'm sorry on behalf of the state of California [for the] violence, discrimination and exploitation [approved] by [the] state government throughout its history"._In a 2019 Executive Order, Newsom formed the Truth and Healing Council to better understand the topic and inform future generations.

## Related pages

- Genocide
- History of California
- California Gold Rush
- Eugenics
- Sterilization of Native American women
- Institutional racism

## Infobox (civilian attack)

- **title**: California genocide
- **image**: "Protecting The Settlers" Illustration by JR Browne for his work "The Indians Of California" 1864.jpg
- **image size**: 200px
- **caption**: "Protecting The Settlers", illustration by J. R. Browne in _The Indians Of California_, 1864
- **location**: California
- **target**: Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous Californians
- **date**: 1846–1873
- **type**: Genocide, ethnic cleansing, human hunting, slavery, rape, Indian removal
- **fatalities**: No more than 2,000 (per Anderson)
4,300 (per Sherburne Cook, Cook)
4,500 (per California Secretary of State)
9,492–16,094 (per Madley)
100,000+ (per Ed Castillo, Castillo/California Native American Heritage Commission)
- **injuries**: 10,000–27,000 taken as forced laborers by white settlers; 4,000–7,000 of them children
- **perpetrators**: United States Army, California State Militia, White Americans, White American settlers