The Chumash Revolt

The 1824 Chumash Revolt This paper will consist of researching the Chumash Tribe from before their colonization the actions that led to the 1824 uprising, and the aftermath that occurred after this revolt. Therefore this research paper will focus on how the Chumash Indians have adapted to culture loss and continue to be a federally recognized tribe.

The year was 1542, his name was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his contact with the Chumash Indians would prove to be a crucial moment for the tribe. Cabrillo was the first European to have contact with the Chumash Indians. He encountered the Chumash on wood plank canoes along, what is known today as, the Ventura and Santa Barbara Coastline. Consequently, the Chumash were left to their own devices

Deana Dartt-Newton and Jon M. Erlandson in their academic journal entitled Little Choice For The Chumash: Colonialism, Cattle, And Coercion In Mission Period California argues that the Chumash Indians had a abundant amount of oak groves, chaparral, and riparian communities, large estuaries, a mosaic of sandy and rocky shorelines, and had extensive kelp beds to provide them with a wide variety of resources (416-430). Furthermore, the Chumash were able to flourish with all the variety and plethora of resources obtainable along the mainland coast, when shared with refined maritime technologies and all embracing business and craft specialism, allowed aggregations of as many as six hundred to one thousand peoples to live in some coastal towns. Hence, Newton and Erlandson argues that there was a great deal of trade happening among the Chumash groups (and neighboring tribes) that were living on the islands, and in the coastal mainland (416-430). The inner valleys were operated by the use of shell bead money, and large plank canoes (tomols), and wide-ranging trail

Another element as part of the Chumash being colonized was that they were subjected to confessing their sins to the Confessario. In addition, Brian T. McCormack asserts that a "subsequent confessional aid, composed by Fray Jose Sefian of Mission San Buenaventura sometime between 1819 and 1823, reveals a more sophisticated and inclusive penitential discourse addressing nearly all aspects of Chumash culture possessed by the inhabitants of this area"(McCormack). Moreover, the most captivating thing about these spiritual rituals is the method by which the Chumash beseech the penitent toward self-assessment and repentance. Hence, "Fray Cortés 's Doctrina emphasized the importance of the sacrament of penance and exhorted neophytes to make a 'perfect ' confession. Some examples of questions that were directed towards the Chumash were: "Think about all your sins, then tell all the mortal sins without holding any back because of shame, sorrowfully repent them, and resolve to reform"(McCormack). The Chumash were not used to confessing their sins and the methods that were being imposed on them kept them