Handbook of the Indians of California

The Indians of California, in their ethnographic present, offered the widest range to be found in any area of the United States. In the north they approximated the cultures of the Northwest Coast; in the center they developed distinctive, elaborate cultures based on local food supplies; and on the south and east they approximated the more primitive desert groups -- all in all showing a host of adaptations within a relatively small geographical area. In addition, despite successive decimations by missionaries, colonial administrations, settlers and exploiters, enough Indians survived (though sometimes only a couple for each group) to make their study possible. For these reasons they have long been an important topic in anthropological circles.