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How did the Miwok tribe get their name?

How did the Miwok tribe get their name?

The name Miwok derives from their word ‘Miwuk’ meaning person. The Miwok people were decimated by the diseases brought by the invaders and subjected to atrocities. Following the short-lived Mariposa Indian War (1850) those who survived were forced on to various reservations.

Where is the Miwok tribe today?

California
The Miwok Indians reside in north-central California, from the coast to the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There are three divisions of the tribe — the Coast Miwok, the Lake Miwok, and the Sierra Miwok.

What are the Miwok known for?

The Miwoks were hunter-gatherers. Miwok men hunted deer and small game and caught fish in the rivers and lakes. Miwok women gathered acorns and ground them into meal to make bread and fruits, as well as collecting berries, nuts, and other plants. Here is a website with more information about Native American recipes.

What religion did the Miwok tribe follow?

They believed that everything in this world had a spiritual power. They only took what they needed from the land and were never wasteful. The Bay Miwok believed totally in the power of animal spirits and the spirits of each other. They worshipped animals as ancestors, imitated them in dance, and told myths about them.

Did the Miwok tribe use any form of money?

Clamshell disks were used as money, though they were considered less valuable among the Miwok than among their neighbors to the north. Pieces of clamshell were shaped into small circles, holes bored in them, and strung on strings. Miwok men and women wore strings of clamshells as necklaces, and to show their wealth.

What does Miwok mean in Native American language?

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Miwok. Miwok can refer to any one of four linguistically related groups of Native Americans, indigenous to Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwokan languages in the Utian family. The word Miwok means people in their native language.

What kind of homes did the Miwok tribe live in?

The natives lived in cone-shaped cedar bark or tule shacks, with poles tied together forming a wooden framework covered with tule reed mats and soil. A part of their homes was underground, as they dug out a large cellar under the shacks. During the winters, they stayed in more permanent shelters made of soil.

How did the Miwok tribe get their tattoos?

Children wore flower ornaments in their pierced ears and noses. For special occasions, the male and female folk applied black and white paint and usually had tattoos of three vertical lines running down their bodies, starting at the chin. They obtained the white paint from chalk deposits and the black color from charcoal.

When did the Miwok tribe come to California?

While most believe that the Miwok settlements date back to the migrations from Asia approximately 20,000 years ago over the Bering Strait Bridge, certain sources also mention that the Miwoks were descendants of Siberians who entered California about 3,000 years ago by sea.

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