Natural Nipomo: The Chumash

Critical to understanding the nature of a place is an understanding of the nature of the people who live there. In the case of Nipomo, the most successful inhabitants are the native Chumash. Over the course of more than 9,000 years they maintained a sophisticated culture rich in craftsmanship, legend, and natural knowledge.

Prior to the mission period the Chumash had a wide range, stretching along the coast from San Carpoforo Creek near Ragged Point in the north to Malibu in the south, and laterally from the coast to the western extremes of the Central Valley.

Chumash people lived in villages in places where resources were abundant, including the Nipomo region. Despite a lack of centralized leadership, trade regularly took place between villages. Disputes were usually settled nonviolently, but occasionally ritualized skirmishes would take place.

The Chumash are known for the use of wood-plank canoes, known as tomols. These vessels facilitated the exchange of goods and people between the northern Channel Islands and the densely populated Santa Barbara coastline.

Utilizing a much larger vessel, Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo was the first European to make contact with the Chumash as he surveyed the west coast of New Spain in 1542. Later explorers, including Sebastian Vizcáino in 1602 and Juan Gaspar de Portolá in 1769, had various encounters with the Chumash while also naming many coastal features.

Juanipero Serra came to San Luis Obispo in 1772 to found the first mission in Chumash lands. Four more would be built over the course of the next 36 years, irreversibly altering the native way of life. New villages formed around the missions, and the Chumash were taught crafts that helped support the mission economy.

The California missions were disbanded in 1833, shortly after Mexico gained its independence.
Land formerly held by the missions was broken up and granted to private landowners, leaving little for the Chumash to return to. Some managed to go back to their old way of life, but most went to work on the ranchos as vaqueros and servants.

Much of what we know of the Chumash today is thanks to the efforts of anthropologist John Harrington and the natives he spoke with, who themselves spent much of their lives acquiring knowledge of their culture. His papers are the basis for ongoing research into the Chumash way of life.

This article is intended to set the framework for a deeper discussion of the Chumash in later articles, hence the unexciting roll of dates and facts. If that’s your sort of thing, or if you’d like to delve deeper into the rich world of the Chumash, I urge you to check out The Chumash: A Picture of their World and California’s Chumash Indians from the library—both primary sources for this article and good jumping off points for further research—or take a visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.