Tolowa
The Tolowa are a tribe of Native Americans who traditionally lived in the Smith River basin and vicinity in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. The area was bounded by Port Orford, Oregon to the north and Wilson Creek, north of the Klamath River, in California to the south. They traditionally spoke an Athapaskan language. Their subsistence was oriented around riverine and marine resources and acorns. Their society was not formally stratified, but considerable stress was put on personal wealth.
Tolowa villages were organized around a headman and usually consisted of related men. The men brought wives in from neighboring tribes. The brides were usually related (sisters), in order for the wealth to remain in the paternal families.
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) put the 1770 population of the Tolowa at 1,000. Sherburne F. Cook initially reduced this to 450, but subsequently raised his estimate to 2,400, with which Martin A. Baumhoff also agreed (Baumhoff 1963:231; Cook 1943:170, 1956:101). The 1920 census listed 121 Tolowa left in Del Norte County, California.
Kroeber reported the population of the Tolowa in 1910 as 150.
References
- Baumhoff, Martin A. 1963. "Ecological Determinants of Aboriginal California Populations". University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 49:155-236.
- Cook, Sherburne F. 1943. The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization I: The Indian Versus the Spanish Mission. Ibero-Americana No. 21. University of California, Berkeley.
- Cook, Sherburne F. 1956. "The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California". Anthropological Records 16:81-130. University of California, Berkeley.
- Drucker, Philip. 1937. "The Tolowa and their Southwest Oregon Kin". University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 36:221-300. Berkeley.
- Gould, Richard A. 1978. "Tolowa". In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 128-136. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
- Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.
See also
External links
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