How Did the Chumash Indians Help Start the Santa Barbara Mission?
The Early Chumash Before the arrival of the Spanish in California, the Chumash Indians lived along the coast from Malibu to San Luis Obispo, as well as in part of the San Joaquin Valley. They were hunters, gatherers, boat builders and fisherfolk who lived in dome-shaped dwellings that could accommodate up to 50 inhabitants each. As the centuries passed, the Chumash gathered in villages made up of a number of the dome-shaped dwellings and formed a more stratified society, including chieftains, shaman-priest-astrologers, skilled craftspeople and laborers. Yet the Chumash remained essentially nomadic, as the villagers would live in one place and then pick up and move the entire village when the need arose. The Spanish Arrive In the late 1700s, the Spanish Crown tasked the Franciscans to establish missions in California to help solidify Spain’s claim to the territory, encourage settlement and Christianize the natives. Mission Santa Barbara was the 10th of these California missions, founded
