Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California FrontiersCalifornia’s earliest European colonists—Russian merchants and Spanish missionaries—depended heavily on Native Americans for labor to build and maintain their colonies, but they did so in very different ways. This richly detailed book brings together disparate skeins of the past—including little-known oral histories, native texts, ethnohistory, and archaeological excavations—to present a vivid new view of how native cultures fared under these two colonial systems. Kent Lightfoot’s innovative work, which incorporates the holistic methods of historical anthropology, explores the surprising ramifications of these long-ago encounters for the present-day political status of native people in California. Lightfoot weaves the results of his own significant archaeological research at Fort Ross, a major Russian mercantile colony, into a cross-cultural comparison, showing how these two colonial ventures—one primarily mercantile and one primarily religious—contributed to the development of new kinds of native identities, social forms, and tribal relationships. His lively account includes personal anecdotes from the field and a provocative discussion of the role played by early ethnographers, such as Alfred Kroeber, in influencing which tribes would eventually receive federal recognition. Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants takes a fascinating, yet troubling, look at California’s past and its role in shaping the state today. |
Contents
visions of precolonial native california | 30 |
franciscan missions in alta california | 49 |
native agency in the franciscan missions | 82 |
russian merchants in california | 114 |
native agency in the ross colony | 154 |
missionary and mercantile colonies | 181 |
the aftermath | 210 |
conclusion | 234 |
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Common terms and phrases
activities agricultural Alta California American archaeological associated became Berkeley central ceremonies chief church coast coastal colonists Colony Ross communities Company construction continued cultural early employed encounters especially established European example families Father federal field forced forms Franciscan Franciscan missions frontier groups hierarchy Hispanic historical houses hunting identities interethnic involved Jackson Kashaya Pomo Kroeber labor land language late leaders living maintained major managers marriage mercantile merchants Mexican Mission Indians Mission San missionary Miwok Native Alaskan Native Californian neophytes North northern noted observed organization Pacific padres period polities population practices Presidio probably production recognized recruitment region remains residences Ross settlement Russian San Francisco Santa served settlement ships significant sions social southern Spanish structures texts tion tive took trade traditional tribal tribes University viewed villages women workers