Indigenous Lifeways
This staple food required leaching before it could be safely eaten.
What are acorns?
This mountain range contains California’s highest peak.
What is the Sierra Nevada?
This explorer made the first recorded European contact with California’s coast.
Who was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo?
This industry formed the economic backbone of Mexican California.
What is ranching?
This 1846 uprising declared California briefly independent from Mexico.
What was the Bear Flag Revolt?
This wetland plant was used for housing, mats, and watercraft.
What is tule?
This fertile region later became the center of large-scale agriculture.
What is the Central Valley?
Spain built missions partly to prevent expansion by this northern rival.
Who were the Russians?
Large land grants distributed after secularization were known as these.
What are ranchos?
This war between the U.S. and Mexico from 1846–1848 led to California becoming part of the United States.
What is the Mexican-American War?
Indigenous communities regularly used this controlled environmental practice to prevent large wildfires and encourage plant growth.
What is controlled burning?
California’s dry summers and wet winters describe this type of climate.
What is a Mediterranean climate?
These military forts protected missions and settlements.
What are presidios?
This 1830s policy transferred mission lands from Church control to private hands.
What is secularization?
This treaty ended the Mexican-American War.
What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
This practice allowed tribes to move seasonally to use resources without exhausting them.
What is seasonal migration?
This California desert is one of the hottest and driest places in North America and contains the lowest point in the contiguous United States.
What is Death Valley?
The mission system contributed to this long-term demographic consequence for Indigenous communities.
What is population decline?
In Mexican California, this group of people, often large landowners, occupied the top of the social hierarchy and controlled the most wealth and political influence.
Who are the Californios?
This 1851 law required landowners to prove claims in U.S. courts.
What is the Land Act of 1851?
Unlike interior tribes who sometimes built semi-subterranean homes, coastal groups like the Chumash adapted to abundant shoreline materials by building these circular dwellings.
What are plank or thatch houses?
This major California river flows from the Sierra Nevada into the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, providing water for agriculture and urban areas across the Central Valley.
What is the Sacramento River?
This Spanish missionary, known for founding multiple missions in California.
Who is Junípero Serra?
After the U.S. annexation of California, many of these were challenged in court, forcing landowners to prove ownership, often resulting in lengthy legal battles and loss of property.
What are Mexican land grants?
This military officer led U.S. forces into California, capturing key towns and helping secure the region for the United States during the war.
Who is John C. Frémont?