Chumash Indians

The Chumash Indians were natives to the coastlands in California, from Malibu to Paso Robles, as well as on all three of the Northern Channel Islands. There were 150 independent villages with a total population of 18,000 people. People in the other regions spoke a little differently although the languages were similar. The villages were made of ceremonial grounds, semi subterranean sweathouses, cleared playing fields, storage huts, and round thatched dwelling houses up to fifty feet in …

…keep any records of the past. It wasn’t until people like John P. Harrington started doing research in about 1912 a couple years before Fernando died, but even then most of it was forgotten. The Chumash Indians didn’t write most of their history down. They kept they history of the tribe going in stories that were told at the campfires. And when people were interested, most of the storytellers of the tribe were dead.