Editing California (section)

===Indigenous tribes===
{{Main|Indigenous peoples of California}}
California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in [[pre-Columbian North America]].<ref>Klein, Barry T. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. 7th ed. West Nyack, NY: Todd Publications, 1995</ref> Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eargle |first=Dolan H. Jr. |title=Native California guide: an introduction to the original peoples from earliest to modern times |date=2008 |publisher=Trees Co. Press |others=Fred Dodsworth |isbn=978-0-937401-11-8 |edition=Ed. 2008 |location=San Francisco |oclc=212858363 |quote=Estimates of the Native population in 1776 range from 300,000 to one million.}}</ref> The [[Indigenous peoples of California]] included more than [[Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas#California|70 distinct ethnic groups]], inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests.<ref>{{Cite web |title=California Indian History – California Native American Heritage Commission |url=https://nahc.ca.gov/resources/california-indian-history/ |access-date=2022-11-25 |website=nahc.ca.gov}}</ref>

Living in these diverse geographic areas, the indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including [[forest gardening]] to ensure the regular availability of food and [[medicinal plants]].<ref name=":17">{{cite book |title=Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians |publisher=Ballena Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-87919-126-0 |editor=Blackburn, Thomas C. and Kat Anderson |location=Menlo Park, California}}</ref><ref name="Cunningham2010">{{cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYuYGHwCygC&pg=PA135 |title=State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California |publisher=Heyday |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-59714-136-9 |location=Berkeley, California |pages=135, 173–202 |access-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427074202/https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYuYGHwCygC&pg=PA135 |archive-date=2016-04-27 |url-status=live}}</ref> This was a form of [[sustainable agriculture]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=M. Kat |url=https://archive.org/details/tendingwildnativ0000ande |title=Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge And the Management of California's Natural Resources |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-520-24851-1 |url-access=registration}}</ref> To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of [[controlled burn]]ing.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/firecaliforniase00sugi |title=Fire in California's Ecosystems |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-520-24605-8 |editor-first1=Neil G. |editor-last1=Sugihara |pages=[https://archive.org/details/firecaliforniase00sugi/page/n433 417] |chapter=17 |editor2=Jan W. Van Wagtendonk |editor-first3=Kevin E. |editor-last3=Shaffer |editor-first4=Joann |editor-last4=Fites-Kaufman |editor-first5=Andrea E. |editor-last5=Thode |url-access=limited}}</ref> This practice was recognized for its benefits by the California government in 2022.<ref name="Elassar-2022"/>

These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and, on the resource-rich coasts, large [[chiefdom]]s, such as the [[Chumash people|Chumash]], [[Pomo people|Pomo]] and [[Salinan]]. Trade, intermarriage, craft specialists, and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups. Although nations would sometimes war, most armed conflicts were between groups of men for [[Revenge|vengeance]]. Acquiring territory was not usually the purpose of these small-scale battles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Mark Q. |title=An introduction to native North America |date=2021 |isbn=978-0-367-54046-3 |edition=6th |location=New York |chapter=A Broad Portrait of California Native Societies |type=eBook |oclc=1204267735 |quote=Though actual battles with numerous combatants were sometimes fought, most armed conflict concerned small groups of men bent on revenge. Acquiring territory was not usually the goal of warfare.}}</ref>

Men and women generally had different [[Gender role|roles]] in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as ''joyas'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kroeber |first=Alfred Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pcKAQAAIAAJ |title=Phonetic Constituents of the Native Languages of California |publisher=University Press |year=1912 |page=164 |language=en |quote=The institution of berdaches or women-men is one of frequent occurrence among the California natives... Among the coastal stocks south of San Francisco the custom flourished, and the individuals, termed 'joyas' by the Spanish...}}</ref> who they saw as "men who dressed as women".<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Miranda |first=Deborah A. |date=2010-04-01 |title=Extermination of the Joyas: Gendercide in Spanish California |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article/16/1-2/253/34704/EXTERMINATION-OF-THE-JOYASGendercide-in-Spanish |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1–2 |pages=253–284 |doi=10.1215/10642684-2009-022 |s2cid=145480469 |issn=1064-2684}}</ref> ''Joyas'' were responsible for [[Death rituals|death]], [[burial]], and [[mourning rituals]], and they performed women's social roles.<ref name=":6" /> Indigenous societies had terms such as [[two-spirit]] to refer to them. The Chumash referred to them as ''<nowiki/>'aqi.<ref name=":6" />'' The early Spanish settlers detested and sought to eliminate them.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Contemporary archaeology in theory: the new pragmatism |date=2010 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |editor1-first=Robert W. |editor1-last=Preucel |editor2-first=Stephen A. |editor2-last=Mrozowski |isbn=978-1-4051-5832-9 |edition=2nd |location=Chichester, U.K. |oclc=495597287 |quote=In 1775, Alta California Governor Pedro Fages observed that there were two to three joyas in each village, and that all Indians were consequently addicted to 'this abominable vice.'}}</ref>