People & Cultures

Chumash paddling tomol along coasts. ©Michael Ward
Chumash paddling tomol along coasts. ©Michael Ward

The people and culture groups described in this section represent those individuals and groups who may have interacted directly with the Lone Woman or who may have come into contact with her people during the early decades of the 1800s (nineteenth century). The individuals described here appear by date of significant events in the Lone Woman's life:

  • 1814—This group includes those who were connected to the visit of a Russian American Company hunting party to San Nicolas Island in 1814. They were responsible for a massacre of the Nicoleños.
  • 1835—This group includes people who were part of the Lone Woman's community and were taken from San Nicolas Island to San Pedro in 1835. It also includes some of the nonnative people who were in contact with the Nicoleños during that time.
  • 1853This group includes those people who either engaged in the removal of the Lone Woman from San Nicolas Island or those who interacted with her while she lived for a short time before her death in Santa Barbara, California.

The cultures described here represent those different groups of peoples from North America and Europe who interacted in coastal California during the first half of the 1800s (nineteenth century). Their explorations, colonization, exploitation, and commercial enterprises contributed to the eventual removal of all the native inhabitants from the southern Channel Islands, including San Nicolas Island.

Some relationships, such as those between the Russians and the Americans who entered into trade arrangements, were cooperative. Other interactions, such as that of the Spanish and the California Indians, were largely forced.

Last updated: March 24, 2017