Esselen facts for kids

The Esselen are a group of Native American people. They are native to the Santa Lucia Mountains in Big Sur, California. Before the Spanish arrived, the Esselen lived by moving between the coast and inland areas. In summer, they ate seafood from the coast. During the rest of the year, they gathered acorns and hunted animals inland.

When the Spanish came to California, many Esselen families moved to the missions. There, they learned to read, write, and various trades. The Esselen were required to work at three nearby missions: Mission San Carlos, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, and Mission San Antonio de Padua. Like many Native American groups, the Esselen population greatly decreased. This was due to new diseases, difficult work, and a lack of food.

Historically, the Esselen were one of the smallest Native American groups in California. Experts believe there were about 500 to 1,285 Esselen people when the Spanish first arrived. Because they lived close to three Spanish missions, their traditional way of life was greatly changed. Many people thought the Esselen had disappeared. However, some tribal members avoided mission life. They later worked on ranches in the 1800s. Today, descendants of the Esselen live in the Monterey Peninsula area and nearby regions.

Map showing areas where Esselen groups lived.

Origins

Map showing where the Esselen language was spoken in California before Europeans arrived.

Evidence from old sites and language studies suggests that the Esselen people once lived much farther north. They were later moved south by the arrival of the Ohlone people. Some experts believe this happened around 500 AD. Others think the Ohlone arrived in the Monterey area before 200 BCE.

Scientists have used carbon dating to study ancient sites. This shows that the Esselen have lived in the Big Sur area since at least 2630 BCE. More recent studies found evidence of Esselen people in Big Sur from over 6,500 years ago.

What "Esselen" Means

The exact meaning of the name Esselen is not fully known. One idea is that it comes from the name of a main village, perhaps Exse'ein. Or it could be from a place called Eslenes, which was near where Mission San Carlos is today. The village name might come from "Ex'selen," meaning "the rock." This phrase itself comes from "Xue elo xonia eune," which means "I come from the rock." "The Rock" might refer to the 361 feet (110 m) tall Point Sur Lighthouse promontory, which can be seen for many miles.

The Spanish later used the name Esselen for the entire language group. Old records show different spellings like Aschatliens, Ecclemach, Eslen, Eslenes, Excelen, and Escelen. "Aschatliens" might have referred to a group near Mission San Carlos, in a village called Achasta. However, Achasta was a Rumsen Ohlone village, not Esselen. It was also far from Esselen territory.

Language

The Esselen language is unique and not closely related to other languages. It is thought to be part of the Hokan family. The language was spoken in the northern Santa Lucia Range. Before Europeans arrived, there were between 500 and 1000 people who spoke Esselen.

In 1786, French explorer Jean La Pérouse visited Monterey and wrote down 22 Esselen words. He noted in his journal:

The country of the Ecclemachs [Esselen] extends above 20 leagues to the [south]eastward of Monterey. Their language is totally different from all those of their neighbors, and has even more resemblance to the languages of Europe than to those of the Americas. This grammatical phenomenon, the most curious in this respect ever observed on the continent, will, perhaps, be interesting to those of the learned, who seek, in the analogy of languages, the history and genealogy of transplanted nations.

In 1792, Spanish ship captain Dionisio Alcalá Galiano recorded 107 Esselen words and phrases. Later, in 1832, Father Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta wrote down 58 more words and 14 phrases at Mission Soledad. These words came from speakers in the Arroyo Seco area. The neighboring Rumsen people also knew some Esselen and helped de la Cuesta. About 300 words and some short phrases have been found. Examples include mamamanej (fire), koxlkoxl (fish), and ni-tsch-ekė (my husband). The last person who spoke Esselen fluently was Isabel Meadows, who died in 1939.

Geography

The Central California coast in this area has high, steep cliffs and rocky shores. There are small creeks and occasional beaches. The mountains are very rugged with narrow canyons. This terrain made the area hard to reach and live in for long periods. It also limited the size of the native population. The Esselen's neighbors were the Salinan people, who lived in southern Monterey County and nearby areas.

Esselen Locations

It is believed the Esselen had three main areas: Imunahan, Excelen, and Ekheahan. Imunahan covered the central Arroyo Seco watershed. Excelen included the upper Carmel River. Ekheahan included parts of the Arroyo Seco and Big Sur Rivers, plus a section of the Big Sur coast. The Esselen lived along the upper Carmel and Arroyo Seco Rivers, and along the Big Sur coast. Their land stretched inland through the Santa Lucia Mountains to the Salinas Valley.

Before the Spanish arrived, the Esselen were hunter-gatherers. They lived in small groups and did not have one central leader. Modern researchers now think there were five distinct Esselen areas: Excelen, Eslenahan, Imunahan, Ekheahan, and Aspasniahan. Each area likely had a stable group of people living there.

Jean La Pérouse reported that the Esselen land stretched about 20 leagues (about 52 miles) southeast of Monterey. Within each area, people lived in different villages depending on the season and where food, water, and shelter were available. Carbon dating of items found near Slates Hot Springs (now owned by the Esalen Institute) shows people lived there as early as 3500 BC. This site was important because it had easy access to the ocean, fresh water, and hot springs. Some areas were used as burial grounds.

A large rock with many deep holes, called a bedrock mortar, is found in Apple Tree Camp. This is north of Camp Pico Blanco. Over many generations, Native Americans used these holes to grind acorns into flour. Other mortar rocks have also been found in the Boy Scout camp and along the river.

Culture

Archaeologists have found evidence of Esselen settlements throughout their territory. At a site in the Tassajara area, they found bone tools, antler tools, arrowheads, and scrapers. At another site near the mouth of the Carmel River, they found more arrowheads, tools made from stone, bone tools, and mortars and pestles. Many sites also have beautiful drawings called pictographs in black, white, and red.

Clothing and Daily Life

Before Europeans arrived, the Esselen wore very little clothing. In cold weather, they might have covered themselves with mud or capes made from rabbit or deerskin. There is no evidence they wore sandals or other footwear.

Pedro Fages, an explorer and later Governor of Alta California, described their clothing before 1775:

The women wear a short apron of red and white cords twisted and worked as closely as possible, which extends to the knee. Others use the green and dry tule interwoven, and complete their outfit with a deerskin half tanned or entirely untanned, to make wretched underskirts which scarcely serve to indicate the distinction of sex, or to cover their nakedness with sufficient modesty.

Food Sources

The Esselen people did not farm because there was plenty of food available naturally. They were hunter-gatherers. They moved with the seasons to find food. In winter, they lived near the coast and collected lots of mussels, limpets, abalone, and other sea creatures.

Evidence of baskets has been found. Baskets were likely very important for daily life. They made large cone-shaped baskets for carrying things, bowl-shaped baskets for cooking, flat trays, and small boat-shaped baskets for collecting seeds.

In summer and fall, they moved inland to gather acorns, a main food source. Acorns were very common in Big Sur. They gathered acorns from Black Oak, Canyon Live Oak, and Tanbark Oak trees. First, they soaked the acorns in running water to remove the bitter taste. Then, they ground the acorns using a mortar. Over many years, they created deep holes in granite rocks, called bedrock mortars, to grind seeds and acorns into flour. Once ground, they cooked the acorns into a mush or baked them like bread.

Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno reported:

Their food consists of seeds which they have in great abundance and variety, and of the flesh of game such as deer, which are larger than cows, and bear, and of neat cattle and bisons and many other animals.

They hunted rabbits and deer, probably using bows and arrows. Arrows were made of cane with hard wooden tips. The Esselen traded acorns, fish, salt, baskets, hides, and shells with other tribes.

Homes

There are almost no records from the time about how the Esselen lived. Researchers believe they lived much like the Ohlone people to the north. Miguel Constanso, who traveled with Portola's expeditions, wrote about the homes of Indians in the Santa Barbara Channel. He described dome-shaped homes covered with mats of tule plants. These homes could be up to 55 feet (17 m) across, and three or four families might live in one. They built a fire pit in the middle and had a hole in the roof for smoke.

In mountainous areas with redwood trees, they might have built cone-shaped houses from redwood bark on a wooden frame. An important village building was the sweat lodge, which was built low into the ground with earth walls and a roof of earth and brush. They also built boats from tule plants to travel on bays, using double-bladed paddles.

Spiritual Beliefs

The Esselen left hand prints on rock faces in a few places. About 250 handprints have been found in one rock shelter near Tassajara. Smaller numbers of handprints have been found in other caves and shelters in the same area.

Climate

Rainfall in the region varies from 16 to 60 inches (410 to 1,520 mm) per year, with most rain falling in winter. In summer, fog and low clouds are common along the coast. Many streams dry up in the summer, except for some that flow all year in the wetter northern areas.

European Contact

Viscaino, likely the first European to land on the Central Coast of California, wrote about his visit to Monterey Bay from December 1602 to January 1603.

The Indians are of good stature and fair complexion the women being somewhat less in size than the men and of pleasing countenance. The clothing of the people of the coast lands consist of the skins of the sea-wolves [sea otters] abounding there, which they tan and dress better than is done in Castile; they possess also, in great quantity, flax like that of Castile, hemp and cotton, from which they make fishing-lines and nets for rabbits and hares. They have vessels of pine wood very well made, in which they go to sea with fourteen paddle men on a side, with great dexterity, even in stormy weather."

A drawing of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo from 1792, showing native huts in the background.

Father Junipero Serra first built the original mission in Monterey on June 3, 1770. It was near the native village of Tamo and the military headquarters of Pedro Fages. Fages was the military governor of Alta California from 1770 to 1774.

Fages treated his men very harshly. Complaints grew until Serra stepped in, telling Fages that Christians should rest on Sundays. Fages did not respect the native people. In 1787, he described the local Indians as the "laziest, most brutish and least rational" of all natives. He believed these qualities, along with the foggy weather, lack of water, high death rate, and language barriers, made progress at Mission Carmel very slow. Fages saw the Spanish settlements as military bases first and religious outposts second. Because of their disagreements, Serra decided to move the mission.

Spanish Missions

In May 1771, Serra received approval to move the mission to its current location near the Carmel River and the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. He named it Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. Serra wanted to create distance between the mission's new converts and Fages's soldiers.

The new mission was on land better for farming. It was also close to the Rumsen Ohlone villages of Tucutnut and Achasta. The mission was about 10 miles (16 km) from the nearest Esselen territory, Excelen. On May 9, 1775, Junípero Serra baptized the first Esselen person, Pach-hepas. He was the 40-year-old chief of the Excelen. His baptism happened about 26 miles (42 km) southeast of the mission, in an area now called Cachagua.

Baptisms and Forced Labor

King Charles V of Spain issued the New Laws in 1542 to protect indigenous people. However, these were later replaced by a system called Repartimiento. This system allowed Spanish settlers to force indigenous workers to labor on their farms or in mines without pay. The Spanish believed they had the right to the land and people because the Pope had told them to spread Christianity. This led to the building of missions across California.

Under Spanish law, the Esselen were technically free. But they could be forced to work without pay. With the help of soldiers, the Esselen and Ohlone Indians near the mission were forcibly moved. They were then trained to be farmers, shepherds, blacksmiths, and carpenters at the mission. Diseases, starvation, and overwork greatly reduced the tribe's population.

The Esselen often had conflicts with the neighboring Rumsen tribe over crops and hunting grounds. The Rumsen first helped the Franciscans and taught them what wild foods they could gather. When a tribal member was baptized at Mission San Carlos, the priests tried to tell them they could not leave the mission and wander freely as they had before. They became like servants of the mission. They were also given a new Christian name. If an Indian left the mission, Spanish law required soldiers to find them and bring them back. When they were brought back, they were often beaten and confined.

The priests baptized many Esselen during 1776, mostly children. More were baptized in the following years. After baptism, children were allowed to live with their parents in their village until they were about nine years old. In 1783, soldiers fought the Excelen and killed some of them. This battle might have happened because soldiers were trying to take the children to live at the mission. Baptisms increased after this, perhaps because the Excelen realized they could not defeat the soldiers and wanted to be with their children. Once baptized, the Esselen were considered part of a religious order and were under the direct authority of the priests.

Indians at Mission San Carlos Borromeo lined up to greet French explorer Jean Francois Galaup, Comte De La Perouse in 1786.

Families lived in small, often unsanitary rooms. More than half the children born at a California mission died before age 4. Only about two out of ten lived to be teenagers. Girls were separated from their families at age 8 and had to sleep in a locked dormitory called the monjero (nunnery). After waking, they worked inside until lunch, then could visit their families. Married women whose husbands were away and widows also had to sleep there. Boys and unmarried men had their own dormitory, but it was less strict.

French explorer Jean La Pérouse visited Monterey in September 1786. He visited Mission San Carlos Borromeo. The Indian converts were given extra food and lined up to see him. La Pérouse described the native people as lifeless, sad, and depressed. He also described harsh punishments given to the Indians by the friars. He felt the friars treated the Indians "too much a child, too much a slave, too little a man." Before European contact, native people lived in small villages of 30 to 100 people. In 1786, there were 740 native men, women, and children living near the Mission. The priests did not understand the cultural differences between tribes and forced the Rumsen and Esselen Indians to live together. These two tribes were often hostile to each other, causing ongoing conflict. Galaup said they were poorly fed and depressed by the strict mission rules. He felt they were treated like slaves.

From 1783 to 1785, about 40% of the Excelen were baptized. A few more Esselen were baptized at Mission Soledad in the early 1790s. By 1798, most of the Indians had been baptized. A new priest, Father Amoró, arrived in 1804 and increased baptism efforts. From 1804 to 1808, 25 Excelen individuals were baptized. They had resisted for 33 years after the Spanish began trying to convert them. The last five baptized were older, from 45 to 80 years old. The total number of Esselen baptized is estimated to be between 790 and 856.

It is possible that older Esselen were baptized last because they were left alone and could not support themselves after their children and grandchildren had been forced into mission life. There is some evidence that a few Esselen hid in the rugged mountains where Spanish soldiers could not find them.

In 1795, the Spanish king ordered that all religious teaching be in Spanish. Native languages were to be suppressed. This order went against earlier laws that said missionaries should teach natives in their own language.

Population

The Esselen were and still are one of the smallest native groups in California. The Spanish mission system caused a huge drop in the already small Esselen population. Estimates for the number of Esselen people before European contact vary. Alfred L. Kroeber suggested 500 people in 1770. Sherburne F. Cook raised this estimate to 750. Based on baptism records, Breschini calculated there were 1,185-1,285 Esselen.

The Esselen are often mistakenly thought of as the first California Native American tribe to lose its culture. This is frustrating for current generations of Esselen people. By about 1822, many California Indians near the missions had been forced into the Spanish mission system. Because the Esselen lived near three Spanish missions—Mission San Carlos in Carmel, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad in Soledad, and Mission San Antonio de Padua in Jolon—they were greatly affected. The native population was devastated by diseases like measles and smallpox, which killed 90 percent of the population. They also suffered from forced labor, poor food, and being forced to give up their culture. Most Esselen villages in the Los Padres National Forest became empty. Professor Sherburne F. Cook, an expert on Native American populations, described why the population declined:

The first (factor) was the food supply ... The second factor was disease ... A third factor, which strongly intensified the effect of the other two, was the social and physical disruption visited upon the Indian. [...] He was not only given no assistance in the struggle against foreign diseases, but was prevented from adopting even the most elementary measures to secure his food, clothing, and shelter. The utter devastation caused by the white man was literally incredible, and not until the population figures are examined does the extent of the havoc become evident.

Some experts believed that the Esselen people's culture had almost disappeared by the 1840s. However, current tribe members say that some Esselen were able to hide in the rugged mountains where Spanish soldiers on horseback could not find them. In the 1840s, some Esselen are thought to have moved to ranches and rural areas outside growing towns. Archaeologists found the grave of a girl, about six years old, in Isabel Meadows Cave. They believe she was buried around 1825. Experts also reported that Indians were living in the area through the 1850s. Today, many Esselen people can trace their family history back to Esselen individuals counted in early U.S. census records.

In 1909, forest supervisors reported that three Indian families still lived in what was then called the Monterey National Forest. The Encinale family (16 members) and the Quintana family (3 members) lived near The Indians (now Santa Lucia Memorial Park). The Mora family (3 members) lived further south.

Federal Recognition

About 460 people have identified themselves as descendants of the original Esselen people. They have formed a tribe. The Department of the Interior has set aside 45 acres (18 ha) of Fort Ord for the tribe to build a cultural center and museum. But first, they must get federal recognition. They have been helped by Alan Leventhal and Dr. Les Field, who have supported the tribe's cultural identity.

The tribe was briefly recognized by an Indian Affairs agent in 1883. It was also on official Indian census lists, maps, and a land-rights request sent to President Theodore Roosevelt. But in 1899, anthropologist Alfred Kroeber declared the tribe extinct. He believed this because most tribal members had married outside the tribe, taken Spanish names, and converted to Catholicism. Kroeber wrote in 1925:

Still farther north, from Monterey to San Francisco, and inland to Mount Diablo, were numerous squalid and interrelated bands, many of whose local village names have been preserved, but for whom there is no generic name beyond the Spanish 'coast-men,' Costaños, corrupted into Costanoan in technical book English. A century and a third of contact with the superior race has proved fatal to this group also, and it is as good as gone.

In 1955, Kroeber realized his mistake and tried to convince the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), but they refused to accept his evidence. In 1927, the BIA excluded the Esselen and over 135 other tribes from a list of California tribes that should receive land rights. A tribal member and researcher has found more than 100 Esselen individuals living in Monterey County in 1923, when the group was still federally recognized. The tribe says their exclusion was a mistake that needs to be corrected.

Many anthropologists believed that the Costanoan-speaking people lived in an area from north of San Francisco to Monterey. The name Costanoan comes from the Spanish word Costaños ('coast-men'), which was used for all native people on the coast. It was later changed to Costanoan in English. As a result, almost every Esselen descendant enrolled by the BIA in 1928 was categorized as Costanoan.

In 2010, the Esselen Nation asked the federal government for recognition as a tribe. The Bureau of Indian Affairs says the tribe does not meet the official rules for recognition.

Tribal Land

In the 20th century, Axel Adler built a cabin and bought more land on the former Bixby Ranch. In 2013, the Adler family, who lived in Sweden, put 1,312 acres (531 ha) of the Adler Ranch up for sale for $15 million. This ranch is located along the Little Sur River and includes the peak of Bixby Mountain. The land has old-growth redwoods, grasslands, oak woodlands, and forests. It is an important home for California spotted owls, California condors, and other animals. The property is valuable because it has nine legal parcels, five of which could be developed. The Big Sur Land Trust was not interested in buying the property.

The nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy bought the land to protect its habitat and allow public access. They initially wanted to sell the land to the US Forest Service. This would have allowed hikers to travel from Bottchers Gap to the sea. However, some local residents were against the Forest Service owning the land. They were worried about a lack of federal money to maintain a critical fire break.

On October 2, 2019, the California Natural Resources Agency announced it was seeking money to buy the land for the tribe. The Adler family agreed to sell 1,199 acres (485 ha) of the Adler Ranch. The land was bought with a $4.52 million grant. In July 2020, the purchase of the Adler Ranch was completed, and the land was transferred to the Esselen tribe. This land acquisition could help the tribe gain federal recognition.

"It is beyond words for us, the highest honor," said Tom Little Bear Nason, chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. "The land is the most important thing to us. It is our homeland, the creation story of our lives. We are so elated and grateful." The Esselen tribe has 214 members. They plan to share the land with other Central Coast tribes like the Ohlone, the Amah Mutsun [Wikidata], and the Rumsen people, who also suffered during the Mission Era.

In Popular Culture

The Esalen Institute in Big Sur is named after this tribe. The former Boy Scouts of America Monterey Bay Area Council Order of the Arrow Esselen Lodge #531 was also named after them.

See also

In Spanish: Esselen para niños

• Kuksu (religion)

Images for kids

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  Indians of Mission San Carlos Borromeo are lined up with military precision to greet French expedition led by Jean Francois Galaup, Comte De La Perouse. Watercolor attributed to Tomas de Suria or Jose Cardero, 1791. after a lost original painting at the occasion by Gaspard Duché de Vancy. 1786.