Land of Bears and Totems (Salmon and Totems Spin-Off)

My attempts at Japanese colonization of the Americas thwarted I find myself turning back to my "Land of Salmon and Totems" TL which I still enjoy. Thus I've decided to update it again but before I do several thoughts have come to me.

For one, I have been too conservative in my portyal of California and how it would have been affected by the rise of an native civilization in Oregon to the north. So, just as LOST focuses on the Kal'llan and the region I would like this to focus on developments in California.

-
Excerpt from "California: Golden History" by Professor Juan Carlos Hierro. Madrid University Publications. Madrid. 1950.

I write this chapter, on the history of the Californians, at a time when Spain is celebrating its glorious history and achievements. For we in the name of God and Son carried ourselves across the seas with sword, faith, and word to enlighten many people on every continent on Earth. I bring this up because as many of the anscestors of the modern Californians were as such enlightened by Spanish people, we were not the first to do so.

"Rocosica" "Drake Land" "Slavarossi"

Onallan as it is known by the Kal'llan and Mal'llan or the Llanians by American accounts. Named after the Kal'llan mother goddess the valley homeland of the Kal'llan civilization was very comparable to the ancient Aztecs and Inca and other peoples who achieved rudimentary civilization in the Americas. From their valley came the Water Potato, language, textiles, tools, weapons and so much more which spread and educated the tribes of California.

As such the Californian natives looked up toward their northern neighbor with a reverent or maternal instinct. Proclaiming Onallan to be the source of all good things even today they follow the lead of the natives of Onallan in many respects. While far from docile the early Californian mind was filled with the offerings of Onallan, completed with Spanish education at last.

Scholars of Californian-Kal'llan relations scoff at evidence of conflict between the two peoples. It can be attributed that several times in Californian history Northern California fell to Kal'llan warlords who did wonders to advance Californian civilization by leaps and bounds. If the Kal'llan had ever managed to unite those early Californians into one power than the Kal'llan Empire may have been the China of the American continent. Fortunately, this was never to be for the population of California has always dwarfed that of the Kal'llan.

Especially with the introduction of the Kal'llan Totem, the water Potato...
 
The southern border region of the Kal’llan and the spread of ideas.

To the south of Willamette Valley [Onallan] the area of southern Oregon and northern California is made up of several separate geographic features separate from the Cascade and Oregon Coastal ranges. Going from the coast inland it includes several mountain ranges such as the Calapooya and Siskiyou mountains, three river drainage basins the Umpqua; Rouge; and Klamath; as well as the western edge of Oregon’s high desert region just east of the Upper Klamath Lake and the Modoc Plateau.

While the area was ultimately of little interest to Kal’llan political leaders (except for the Red Tree 1175-1349) it was very importantly the key route of trade south in California. While it may have been of little interest to the Kal’llan leaders that does not mean that it was of disinterest to all Kal’llan and that it would not have ramifications for millions of people throughout history. Through this passageway known as the “Siskiyou Trail” the hallmarks of Kal’llan civilization spread and gave rise to several distinct cultures throughout California.

Kal’llan interactions to this region, termed by them the “Tal’malico” or “Southern direction barbarian mountains”, began first in the early formative period (2000 BC to 200 BC) as advances in agriculture lead to population boom and increased urbanization. Though to be fair trade goods, especially the Kal’llan totem or water potato had spread south into California through archaic period trade. The early formative period though was when consistent interaction began as Kal’llan settlers moved south into the Umpqua river basin. While the area was mostly mountainous the Umpqua (and Rogue) river valleys were particularly fertile and with Kal’llan irrigation techniques the water potato flourished. While the Umpqua valley did not result in any high urban city areas it was heavily populated by the 16th century, in particular the area around Roseburg which at first a major fort organized by Eugene became a major trade town for the Siskiyou Trail. Though in many instances the Kal’llan of the Umpqua would be grow a somewhat remote attitude to their northern relatives, remaining neutral in political conflicts, adopting the sun cult, and in return they were considered by many in the Williamette valley to be “Talmalicoian”.

Umpquarivermap.jpg


However, by doing so they had to also push out the tribal group that was the most numerous in the Tal’malico. The Shasta, for which Mount Shasta in Northern California are named for, were known simply by the Kal’llan as the Hash’ta. In fact, for the Kal’llan “’ta” became a regional term they would refer to all southern peoples as. Initially, the Hash’ta dominated the Umpqua, Rogue, and Klamath river basins into Northern California at the southern end of the Siskiyou Trail. However, they were not a united people and were pushed out of the Umpqua river basin by the Kal’llan who settled the land. Through the Umpqua area the city of Eugene (Shua’talnniuwaya, City of the Southern Sky) would be the protector of the Kal’llan’s southern border and were prominent in rising periods of trade from California.

Rogue_River_Watershed.png


In particular the major Hash’ta city was at Grant’s Pass which was able to exert its influence over much of the Rogue river valley as it sat both on the Siskiyou Trail and in the middle of the Rogue river. However, they were not only rivaled by other Hash’ta groups in northern California but also by a unique offshoot of the Kal’llan people, the Kal’ta as they were known by their northern cousins came south in the middle of the formative period. They consisted of several Kal’llan tribes that had been essentially left out or outright ousted by the growing influence and power of the Kal’llan monarchies. Denied or again pushed out of their lands in the Willamette Valley they forged south across Hash’ta territory and settled on the Upper Klamath Lake.

Klamathmap.jpg


The Upper Klamath Lake sits on the edges of the Oregon high desert and the Modoc Plateau which in their conditions being on the rain shadow side of the eastern slope of the Cascades are arid and semi desert. The water potato native to the Williamette and cultivated by the Kal’llan on its own does not do well in arid environments as it is vulnerable to drought periods when the river lines recede and river beds dry out completely. The hallmark of the Kal’llan totem besides high calorie content and domestication aspects is that it does have a higher resistance to drought than other species of wapotatoes but that does not make it invulnerable to them. In arid environments, only using complex irrigation techniques is the Kal’llan totem able to survive and flourish. Fortunately for the Kal’ta they had brought with them the irrigation techniques of their native valley and even managed to develop their own over the course of the next millennium and centuries.

Settling around Klamath Falls they intermingled with the native peoples and by the Kal’ta to the north they were considered to be half-Kal’llan. Frequently they battled with the Hash’ta of Grant’s Pass but also another southern group of Hash’ta who dominated much of Siskiyou county from the valleys surrounding Mount Shasta. Added into this were also the Motic’ta (Modoc) people who lived in the Modoc Plateau, much more nomadic then their neighbors who wholesale adopted the Kal’llan totem they raided all comers bordering the plateau. Their major population centers focused around Goose Lake they frequently traded with the peoples of the Mojave. The area around the city of Yreka was most sought after, for the discovery of gold and for its place on the Siskiyou Trail between all mentioned rival groups.

Through the Siskiyou Trail flowed the culture of the Kal’llan, the learned and advancements of the river valley traveled south through traders and hitchhikers traveling south. In particular, due to the importance of the trade for all groups it was generally honored that traders could move as they please, in time they became an ethnic group to themselves similar to the Sogdian peoples of Central Asia, drawing from the bloodlines of all the peoples of the region. The sun cult faith was very popular and shared by the Talmalicoian peoples. New advancements in engineering and art. The Kal’llanian language left a footnote across the area, for example their large towns and cities taking on the “Shua” adjective. When the smallpox epidemics hit the Kal’llan of the Umpqua and the Talmalicoian peoples were last to be hit by its effects in a way due to the geography as they were less involved in the famine and war that wracked the Kal’llan Empire. As surprising as they were able to ride out the worst of the smallpox epidemics, though they would have a hand in spreading it into California.

To the south of the Hash’ta peoples centered around Mount Shasta one would enter into northern Sacramento river valley. It was there at the most southern extent of the Siskiyou Trail that the first major civilization Californian polities would flourish at the headwaters of the Sacramento River.

Sacramentorivermap.jpg
 
Language Interlude:

So, in my research into the native groups of California I believe that my TL does pose one serious divergence for the native peoples that would exist in this TL. Namely, that due to the centralization of the Kalapuyan who do become the Kal'llan this may impact the development of the Penutian language family and their speakers. From what I have seen the Penutians such as the Wintu arrived in California in 500 AD. That means the candidates for the development of Californian languages would have to be groups that lived in the Central Valley around 2000 BC-100 AD.

This would primarily have to be speakers of the Hokan family group. However, I have seen it considered that the Yokut and Utian language families while considered Penutian may not really be descended from Penutian speakers and instead migrated into the area from the Great Basin.

Does anyone have their 2 cents on this?
 
I don't know much about the debate surrounding the language, but I think it would be cool to use Yokuts, as they're undergoing a large language revitalization effort after it nearly went extinct. It would be a nice way to give it a nod and raise awareness, plus there should now be plenty of material to use.

I do know, though, that a lot of Southern Californian peoples (e.g Tongva, Chumash, Kumeyaay) have been here for several thousands of years, though their language would certainly have changed by then.
 
I don't know much about the debate surrounding the language, but I think it would be cool to use Yokuts, as they're undergoing a large language revitalization effort after it nearly went extinct. It would be a nice way to give it a nod and raise awareness, plus there should now be plenty of material to use.

I do know, though, that a lot of Southern Californian peoples (e.g Tongva, Chumash, Kumeyaay) have been here for several thousands of years, though their language would certainly have changed by then.

Hmm. Well despite the changes to the TL the other language groups of the region are mostly going to exist but there will be major consolidation in the Central Valley and the Bay Area.

I am leading toward Miwok becoming most popular due to their situation on the Bay and middle of the Central Valley.
 
California: An Introduction

California is known world wide for its geographic diversity. The coastal mountain ranges with isolated beaches and river valleys, the Klamath Mountains leading north, the wide Central Valley with its life giving rivers, the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east studded with various lakes, and the desert of the Mojave in the south-east. Just as similarly the land is known for its diverse peoples.

In particular the Central Valley is an interesting geographic feature. In particular it is low lieing, in places below sea level and is home to a wet climate in the north and a much more arid to desert climate in the south. The majority of the Central Valley is crisscrossed with life-giving rivers which make the valley a hub for agriculture. The majority of the rivers have their sources in the Sierra Nevada mountains, winter rains and spring melts habitually leading to flooding in the valley which at times leads portions of the valley to becoming an inland sea. However, it is in part because of these floods that the Central Valley is such a booming source for agricultural development.

800px-California_Topography-MEDIUM.png


Until the developments of the Kal'llan made their way south, the people of the Central Valley lived in nomadic or semi nomadic bands. As hunter-gatherers they took on the fruits of the valley but were very commonly at the mercy of the river floods, which was the gradual source for their interest iin Kal'llan techniques for irrigation and engineering. Their formative period fairly closely followed that of the Kal'llan, taking in their culture, sciences, foods, and written language. The first to feel the southern movement of ideas from the Willamette Valley was the area around Redding. Redding had for longer period than the development of the Kal'llan civilization been a hub for trade down the Siskiyou Trail into the Central Valley. It was naturally the first place for the development of urban society in California to develop.
MapCaliforniaIndianTradeRoutes.png


Situated at the transition point between the Central Valley and the Klamath foothills the first development of Redding would be similar to the first development of other urban centers in the Central Valley, built further into the foothills of the mountains just above flood levels but close enough to take advantage of farming and trade on the local rivers and streams. As the Californians developed more sophisticated techniques in flood control and daming they would move closer and closer to the river beds. The first structures would be made of wood situated on high standing stilts, more sophisticated structures having walkways between them. Then gradually there was the adoption of mound building, the more grandoise structures incorporating masonry from the stones harvested from the local mountains to build more sturdy platforms and channels. Control of the rivers meant that the Californians could expand their population and lead to more complex cultural developments.

The northern Central Valley was dominated by natives of the Hokan language, in particular the developments would allow the Yana people to expand to both sides of the Central Valley and prevent their expulsion by other tribal groups. Especially the face of the expansion of native tribes of the Yok-Utians who moved into the southern Central Valley and very quickly spread north as far as the Bay Area.

The developing Yana city-states would blunt their advances north and keep them from moving beyond the Sacremento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Miwok-Ohlone peoples developed along the coasts of the Bay area, rival city states popping up in Napa, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Oakland, and Stockton. Primarily these states would vye with one another for access to the Salmonid fishing grounds which would be abundant throughout the region. They were also the main source for one of the region's main source of proto-currency, seashells. In particular San Jose would rise to the most prominence in the centuries often being the agricultural breadbasket and being at odds with a confederated alliance of the other Miwok-Ohlone city-states. The Bay Area would be one of the most densely populated areas in the world and the Americas prior to the outbreak of smallpox in the 16th Century.

The southern Valley, typicality by the San Joaquin river would primarily become home to the Yokut peoples. The southern Central Valley would see the area's most keen developments during the Medieval Warming Period and would rise to the most importance. The Medieval Warming Period was in general a greater wet period for the Central Valley, the entire valley faces harsh floods during this time frame but none more so than the North and Bay areas (the later having to work much more diligently to prevent salinity intrusion) but for the much more arid and desert acclimatize south it lead to a new expansion of agriculture and population. The major Yokut confederation in Modesto even moved its capital south to Fresno as it worked to expand into the desert regions towards Bakersfield. With increased irrigation and water flows it also lead to the discovery of different natural materials, the Yokut discovery of iron deposits and subsequent development of iron working would overcome the Kal'llan problem of arsenic bronze that had plagued them for centuries.

The Little Ice Age began around the beginning of the 14th Century but the truly worst period began around the advent of the 17th century. For the Pacific West what this meant for the Californians and the Kal'llan was less intense winter rains and snows, which for the spring melt meant less water flows into the rivers which in turn lead to long periods of drought. The Yokuts situated in the arid south were hit by these develops the hardest, much of the expansion into the extreme south drying up over years and leading to greater instability and conflict between the Yokut tribes for drastically reduced drainage basins. Unfortunately for them this would also be the timeframe for when smallpox was introduced into the Central Valley and next to the isolated coastal villages which experienced mortality rates as high as 100% the Yokuts would be hit the second hardest as civil war and famine played into the mortality rates.

Similar to the Black Death in Europe the outbreak of Smallpox would be an icebreaker for the Californians, more traditional confederations broke down and new political powers grew.
 
Praise the Sun: Sun Worship

The importance of worship of Aka'tickian (The Sun) and Aka'inaco (The Moon) began over the course of several centuries as the Sun Cult worship started by followers in Onallan flowed down the Siskiyou Trail into the Central Valley where it became very popular among the Central Valley people's.

The mythology among the Californian tribes though had much more influence of native traditions. In particular the birth of the Sun and Moon. In the most common version Silver Fox took the form of a human woman and went down to where two tribes lived with one another. Silver Fox was first taken as a slave woman by the first tribe's chief.

The chief treated her well, eventually she would give birth to a child, Aka'tickian who lit up the sky and whose light gave the tribe good harvest and prosperity for many years. Disappearing she would reappear reappear again to the second tribe and be taken as a slave by their chief who treated her poorly. She would give birth to Aka'inaco who upon his birth killed the chief, buried his ashes in the ground, and second tribe suffered.

The moral of the tale being very similar to the golden rule, and would transfer over to their attitudes on slavery especially as they came into contact with the southern plantation slavery system.

The Californian built large mound temples with open topped sky lights where the ashes of the dead were scattered. The Priesthood had comparatively very small political influence. Silver Fox and Coyote also being key figures were seen as much more personal figures. For the Californians they also used gold symbolism much more widely than their Kal'llan neighbors. Where as the Kal'llan only used it for religious art and funerary rites the Californians did also use it as a status symbol.
 
The Californian Language: The Words That Walk

The modern Californian language is when translated called "The Words That Walk" for a very good reason. The history of the language actually begins in Northern California among the Shasta people. There the language was first developed as a bridge between the Kal'llan in the north, the various isolates along the north coast, and their linguistic cousins the Yama at the northern portion of the Central Valley. It was a trader's tongue, used by merchants and travelers between various tribes who held different languages.

As the network of trade moved south the language came across still more language isolates and eventually the incoming Miwok and Yokuts from the south. Where the language would pick up more loan words as it traveled south especially under the strong periods of the Yokut during the medevial warming period. It would be used from the south of Oregon all the way to the shores of Los Angeles. Intrepid travels even using it eastward into the Grand Canyon.

The language itself would grow into a more bureaucratic useage during the last of the major Yokut empires. The language being made the official bureaucratic tongue alongside the Californian written language characters modified after being taken from the Kal'llan. The character based languages of the eastern Pacific coast natives would bring a slew of false theories that somehow the Chinese had discovered and spread their written language to the Americas at some point.

By the smallpox epidemics the Californian language would take a severe blow as trade slowed down to a trickle during the first outbreaks. It would be revived again under the first Californian power to fully unify the Central Valley as they would impose a strict literacy program. The Californian Confederacy or Confederation of California as it would be known to their American and British contacts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
 
1769- Discovery!

At its inception the Californian Confederacy was in many ways like the Iroquois League far on the opposite end of the North American continent. It was a confederation of various tribes and city-states that banded together for common defense and profit. The Californian Confederacy started shortly after the introduction of the first wave of smallpox in 1591 that very quickly spread throughout the Central Valley and the majority of California.

The epidemic brought low most of the polities in the Central Valley, in some cases wiping out entire communities as was the case by 1602 when Sebastian Vizcaino sailed into Monterey Bay and found very few inhabitants in an area that had hosted thousands a few decades prior. Prior to the Smallpox epidemics around the time of Columbian discovery the population of Shua’leama and Tenochitlan were at neck and neck becoming the most populous cities in the Americas, following the overthrow of the Aztecs that title was held by Shua’leama until the introduction of smallpox in 1589 in which case the title moved south to Redding, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, San Jose, Stockton, and then Fresno within the space of a handful of years before Shua’leama retook the title before losing it to New York and Mexico City through the 19th to 21st centuries.

The Confederacy began among the cosmopolitan city-states of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the area having long been an overlap of Yana, Miwok, and Yokut peoples it had just recently been under the domain of the one of the northern Yokut confederations before their grip collapsed and left the various city-states to decide to band together. As the crossroads of the Central Valley the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta cities were the most vulnerable to the spread of plagues and warfare so they decided to band together to enforce a common defense, quarantine, and to continue trade that was beginning to wither out.

They extended their reach first into the Sacramento Valley then the Bay Area before going south to the San Joaquin Basin. The Californian Confederacy had a moving capital at first, among the original city-states and into the Bay area before it was decided to simply place the capital at Sacramento as the most central location. The nature of the Confederacy gradually moved towards greater centralization over the years, the tribes and city-states defining their boundaries and common areas looked to the Central Council of Speakers to govern their affairs, laws binding for every member of the Confederacy needed to pass at first unanimously then overtime it changed to a two-thirds majority. They elected from among themselves central figures who would guide various policies such as military, trade, foreign relations, and so forth.

During this timeframe the Central Valley was hit by a secondary smallpox epidemic, the cause of the second one actually coming from the south as it moved through the Mojave and up into the Central Valley. The losses on the second epidemic and following epidemics would be considerably less and less disastrous. By 1700 the Californian Confederacy had consolidated its grip on the Central Valley and had even extended its influence into the Californian Coast and over the Sierra mountains. While the population had not returned to pre-epidemic numbers the number of Californians was upward of 17 million by the arrival of the Spanish in 1769.

The Californians and Spanish were at best only vaguely aware of one another. While the Spanish only heard of a great many peoples living in California, the Californians in turn heard of the deeds of the Spanish and were extremely wary of meeting them-especially as news that the smallpox epidemic had been caused by Spanish individuals leaked into California. Trade goods did go between what would be New Spain and California at an extremely low rate, the barrier of the south-west desert and small coastal trading networks prevented many trade goods from reaching between the two areas in great number. The few times Californian metal work made it to New Spain the local officials assumed it had been made as local knockoffs. The one exception though was the horse, which reached the Snake River around 1690, was introduced into the Mal’llan Empire by 1710 and had made its way into California before the 1720s.

The main cause for the Portola expedition was the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, they had set up a number of missions in Baja California and Gaspar de Portola had been charged with replacing them with Franciscans. Then gradually as news of Russian interests in the region grew (despite the total loss of the Bering expedition) and of British overland journeys following the Seven Years War the Spanish crown decided it would be best to explore and settle California. The expedition would have a land-sea component, first settling the first mission in San Diego area before traveling up the coast through Los Angeles and the Santa Barbara area. The Spanish were surprised by the increasing number of natives as they moved northward, seeing for themselves the water potato plant and rustic communities where the Spanish were welcomed and watched. Passing out of the Los Angeles area they moved northward toward the San Gabriel Valley where the met their opposition at Paso Robles along the Salinas river.

The first parts of the Portola expedition had reached San Diego in April, and it would be until July that Portola had set off toward Paso Robles. In that time word had spread north of the arrival of the Spanish and so alerted the Californian Confederacy had responded with an army of seven hundred to match the around hundred man strong expedition lead by Portola. The Californian contingent was lead by Iweda’ishi, the commander of the Californian Confederacy’s along the southern border.

Paso Robles at the time was a small urban settlement, consisting of around three thousand natives it was however an important stop for trade with the non-Confederated tribes of Santa Barbra county and a military outpost protecting the southern reaches of the Salinas river. The Portola expedition upon seeing the native army before them quickly tried to retreat the way they had come and in this they were partially successful, Portola and anyone who could get on a horse made their speedy getaway however this still left most the expedition stranded on foot. While the Californians fanned out and captured the fleeing stragglers this was when the first killing began as the Californians noted that several of the members of the expedition were sick-some suffering from the scurvy, and were immediately killed for fear of the sickness spreading. The remaining members of the expedition were taken prisoner and their belongings in the wagons taken north toward the city of Salinas on the Monterey Bay-the expedition’s intended destination.

Portola and the few escapees headed south ahead of the Californian army which stopped from entering Santa Barbra county as the Confederacy did not want to incite war with the local tribes along the southern coast. Portola returned first to the Los Angeles pueblo, named the San Gabriel mission, and then to the San Diego mission to report the fate of his men and what he had seen. Three ship had been sent with the expedition, the San Jose had sailed along the coast north of the expedition to meet them at Monterey but was lost at sea, in harbor at the time was the San Carlos, and the San Antonio had already sailed south back to Baja California to inform the government that Portola had went north and an mission had been established at San Diego.

His news of the confrontation and capture of most of his expedition put into doubt the worthiness of the expedition, let alone the safety of the San Diego mission. The whole expedition may have ended in failure and returned to Mexico had it not been for something that the local friars had traded for from the local natives. Two golden arm bracelets. Portola took the golden bracelets and traveled back to Mexico on the San Carlos where he reported his discoveries. Over the next year word of what the expedition had found leapfrogged across the Atlantic and would set off a race for the Pacific Coast by the powers of Europe.
 
The Californian-Spanish Wars

1771

With word of the discovery of the Californians racing across the globe in 1770 the Viceroy de Croix had yet to be relieved of his command of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and decided to act quickly rather than later. Most of the colony’s royal soldiers, the white shirted blanquillos were spread out across most of Mexico and so he organized two expeditions to return to California. One by land and one by sea.

The expedition by land left with 500 soldiers from Baja California and traveled north through the Mojave to find if an further inland route was possible and to possibly catch the still largely unknown Californians by surprise. Unsurprisingly, to even de Croix the expedition did end in a failure having to turn back to lack of supplies, starvation, and a viable land route not being found.

The expedition by sea was much larger and to a degree more successful. Two thousand blanquillos and a small fleet were dispatched to San Diego. At the time the facilities in San Diego were much too small and at least half of the army was deployed in the region to develop the area for future use by the Spanish crown. Meanwhile the other half of the military sailed northward along the California coastline to Monterey Bay-first described by Vizcaino over a century ago. Landing on the southern end of the bay they attached the urban center of Salinas which was the largest population center along the coastline. The attack from the sea was highly unexpected by the Californians, most of the army in the region having deployed south to Paso Robles so the Spanish with their cannons were able to breach the city.

What they found was odd yet familiar in many ways. The city of Salinas had many mount structures not unlike the ruins of Mesoamericans but of a much different style, the gods as well were much different as was the dress and appearance of the Californians. Still, a city was a city and they were able to not only loot the shell and bead jewelry the city was famed for but also gold! Imported from the inland, for the Californians gold was used as a status and religious symbol. So the Spanish committed a religious sacrilege as they plucked the golden orbs from the eyes and mouths of the Californian gods. The Spanish soon advanced northward and similarly took the settlements around Watsonville, surprised by the complexity of the Californian civilization they found.

Here were not tent dwelling nomads or poor beggars in the streets, here were cities, irrigation, and other great works that Spanish eyes had last really despoiled in the Americas with the conquest of the Inca. The Spanish fresh off of their conquest of the Watsonville area were attacked by the Californians whose light infantry succeeded in drawing the Spanish north-westward, deeper inland. Expecting to relive the conquests of Cortes and Pizarro the Spanish commanders received reinforcements from San Diego before they followed the Californians into the Santa Clara valley, where at the northern end laid the city of San Jose.

However, the Spanish never reached San Jose. As they traveled through the southern section of the valley they would come face to face with the irrigation techniques of the Californians. The Spanish crossed into the valley during the spring, during which time the heavy winter snows melted and the water filled the dams and canals constructed by the Californians to prevent disastrous floods and to feed their agriculture. They released the local dams and pointed the flood waters at the Spanish.

The result wasn’t a sudden unstoppable wave of water crushing the Spanish army. No, the Californians wanted to retake their land after all. Instead the rivers, streams, and canal works of the Californians just burst their banks halting the Spanish advance as they were flooded. Soon the Spanish column lost a great deal cohesion as the flood waters separated army units and even saw wagons float back down the river. It was then the Californians attacked from the high grounds and from great river canoe and barges.

The Battle of Santa Clara was an overwhelming defeat for the Spanish as hundreds of Spanish soldiers and their camp followers were killed or captured. The Spanish fled back out of the Santa Clara valley hounded by the Californians back toward Salinas-which had been re-captured in a bloody battle by a Californian army charging south from Rosa Pablos. In disorder the Spanish retreated to their ships with over half of their army being left behind dead or captured by the Californians.

1775-1776

The Spanish invasion of 1771 was a stinging defeat for the Spanish crown but it did not mean the Spanish would give up on California. They had been able to take booty and slaves from the areas of California they conquered and it was decided that the conquest of California was a worthy task. However, failing to take California in 1771 had repercussions as the British shortly afterward made contact with the House of Raven in Onallan to the north and threatened Spain with their territorial demands over the Pacific Northwest, citing Drake’s original discovery as one of the reasons among others. There was also the Russians who exercised their own claims but fortunately for Spain most of those were also counter to the British territorial disputes.

Spain was wary of going to war with Britain over the area, after several defeats during the Seven Years war but to the Spanish the timing seemed to be good once more. The British seemed to be occupied with taxation of their colonies on the eastern coast of North America and had suffered defeats abroad in India.

This time the invasion of California would once more be by land, the Spanish authority in New Spain, now Viceroy de Bucareli y Ursua wanted to take a much more cautious approach than the debacle under de Croix. The Spanish plan was to once more probe the interior for an inland passage into California. In the intervening years the Spanish authority had continued to develop San Diego and San Gabriel (Los Angeles) and probe along the shore and inland area through native scouts the Spanish could bribe. This lead to the discovery of the Tejon Pass through the San Emigdio Mountains. Landing an army of some three thousand five hundred in San Gabriel the Spanish marched north in the Central Valley.

The Spanish were spotted before they made it through the Tejon pass but in shoring up their coastal and south-western defenses against a possible Spanish attack the Californians had discounted the Spanish attacking through the Mojave. Californian riders sped northward and the Californians in Tejon pass did their best to delay the Spanish advance as much as possible, creating landslides and other obstacles but the Spanish eventually managed to cut their way through Tejon pass and breach the Californian forts to make it into the Central Valley.

The southern end of the Central Valley is mostly classified as desert and had seen a serious depopulation as a result of the smallpox outbreaks. The area had been resettled by the Tubatalabal people who spoke an Uto-Aztecan language and had joined the Californian Confederacy. They took up Californian agricultural practices and brought green back to the area. The Spanish army that crossed into the Kern river basin attacked and looted the Taubatalabal communities in the area around Bakersfield, wrecking much of the irrigation systems in the area as they corralled the local natives and dealt with them harshly through manners learned fighting the Apache and Comanche. The area was not known for the more harsh floods further north in the Central Valley so the Spanish found very few high urban centers they could use to defend their new territory.

The Spanish commanders then resolved to push northward to find a more defensible center they could hold. Moving north they were finally checked around the banks of the Tule river as an army of 6,000 Californians counterattacked. What was most interesting about this was that a good portion of the Californians were also armed with Spanish and crudely manufactured muskets and cannonry. If the Spanish had managed to get a closer inspection they would have noticed British, make as well. The Californian army forced the Spanish back in a series of hit and run battles all across the southern area of the Central Valley, for the first time the Californians also used horses as a part of their military tactics as they sped around the Spanish.

The Spanish were forced back and out the way they had come, sustaining heavy loses they returned to San Diego mostly empty handed.

1785

Once more defeated the Spanish were unable to muster another attack on California as wider world events quickly overtook them. Along with growing troubles in Mexico and their other New Spanish colonies, the world went to war with Britain over the secession of their 13 colonies. The Spanish knew they had to protect their interests in the Caribbean before they could expand again. Overall the victory in the American Revolution was extremely successful for Spain which defended its territory, regained prestige, and even recaptured disputed territories with Britain. Buoyed by increased mining spoils in Mexico and Bolivia the Spanish government resolved to capture California once by, this time by sea.

Since their attack in 1771 the Spanish had committed to scouting the Californian coastline for any and all suitable landing points. They found the Californian coastline to be extremely rocky and mountainous in most places. On secluded shores where they could land they often attacked the local costal natives, most of whom were not aligned with the Californian Confederation but soon would be, and sought an inland route into the heart of California. The one prize they did find was the Bay Area, from their scout ships they could see that it was a large bay that could fit the entire Spanish fleet and was also heavily populated by the Californians. It was reasoned that the Bay Area must be some sort of capital for the Californians and to capture it they could force the rest of the Californians into submission as they had done with Moctezuma and Atahualpa.

Thirty four Spanish warships and merchantmen were sent to San Diego to spearhead the attack into San Francisco, with a compliment of some seven thousand the attack on the Bay would make or break the assault into California.

Sailing north the Spanish fleet in as much haste as possible to outrun any possible Californian reinforcements sailed into the Bay area. What they expected to find was one city, what they found instead was several. They did not know that in the ages past the city-states of the bay area had often warred among each other and so had very quickly developed sea walls and sea fortifications to prevent cross-bay attacks by their neighbors. As the Spanish fleet entered through the Golden Gate the flagship and center of the fleet gravitated toward Alcatraz island while the fleet separated into two wings, one going for San Francisco and the other for Oakland.

The Californians themselves had not really developed a blue water navy but they certainly had developed a riverine and bayrine navy. The Spanish fleet was met by a swarm of attack canoes and ramming barges from all sides that sought to hem in the Spanish attack into the Bay. Spanish cannon fire pounded the Californian ships at first before they slowly began to receive fire-from San Francisco and Oakland. Crude catapults and cannonry was wheeled into position by the Californians in the city and proceeded to bombard the Spanish, while mostly not powerful enough to sink the Spanish galleons on their own they played hell on the crew, lighter crafted rigging and the lighter ships in the fleet.

Spanish soldiers attempting to go ashore on San Francisco and Oakland were met by several charges of spear and musket wielding Californians on the sea walls surrounding the bayside. The melees were fierce as the Spanish pushed ashore, superior firepower managing to get them through the initial defenses before being beaten back by Californian counter-attacks. Suffering several losses and surprises the Spanish fleet momentarily pulled back toward the Golden Gate, recessing their situation the Spanish attacked again trying to break through the Californian defenses. The Battle of San Francisco Bay went on for days, as the Spanish went from one end of the bay to the other attempting to break through. However, as time went on the Spanish realized they had missed their chance.

Reinforcements were pouring into the city, and not just Californians. Kal’llan and Mal’llan soldiers and even a group of British volunteers had entered the city to assist the Confederacy. In the end the Spanish fleet had no choice but to return to San Diego as supplies and morale plummeted. Still, the casualties of this conflict were in the thousands not just for the Spanish but also for the Californians as well, large sections of the cities around the Bay had been severely damaged with civilian casualties extremely high. It would take some time before the dead could be reclaimed from the waters.

The attack on San Francisco Bay however bloody for the Californians would mark the end of Spanish conquests on California proper. Events in Europe and in New Spain would very quickly unravel for the Spanish and grant them reprieve from any future attacks by the Spanish except for raids along the mutual boundaries around the San Diego bay area.

For Spain, revolution would quickly spread first to their Bourbon ally, France and then to their colonies in the New World as Spanish loses emboldened groups within New Spain. The rise of Napoleon would lead to the occupation of Spain itself and give rise to independent movements in New Spain. When revolution finally claimed Mexico, the Californians would occupy Santa Barbra county as well as shore up their eastern borders on the opposite side of the Sierra Mountains. Spanish forces in San Diego would surrender to the new Mexican government, faced with the possibility of invasion by the Californians.

With that the threat of Spanish invasion was finally ended for the Californians, however the threat of invasion would not end for them. While the new Mexican government was friendly to the Californians, having had common cause, the suggestion that Mexico should finish what Spain could not end was floated in the more aggressive elitist circles.
 
Last edited:
Well, a population of 17 million on the North American continent with enough home grown industry to replicate European arms in the 18th century. I would certainly expect them to conquer a good Portion of Southwestern OTL US and current Northern Mexican territories.

These repeated invasions has to have instill a more militant mindset on the Californian government.
 
So why weren't the Californians discovered earlier by the Spanish? They seem to have been chasing every rumor possible of great civilizations at the time. You'd think Coronado at least would have been sent there.

Also, where is Shua'leama in the Central Valley? You mentioned Tenochtitlan, and I was reminded that there was a large-ish island on the southeastern part of Tulare Lake, which had been inhabited off and on since the Clovis culture. It would be hilarious if a second Tenochtitlan sprouted there :p
 
So why weren't the Californians discovered earlier by the Spanish? They seem to have been chasing every rumor possible of great civilizations at the time. You'd think Coronado at least would have been sent there.

Also, where is Shua'leama in the Central Valley? You mentioned Tenochtitlan, and I was reminded that there was a large-ish island on the southeastern part of Tulare Lake, which had been inhabited off and on since the Clovis culture. It would be hilarious if a second Tenochtitlan sprouted there :p

Mostly due to the terrain. The Mojave, Rockies, and Great Basin kind of staunched any major trade flow and likewise Spanish exploration into the region per OTL.

Though, as mentioned the Californians did discover California by going by sea. However they mostly discovered the poor and isolated coastal villages or at periods when the small pox had decimated the locals. Not to mention events in New Spain and the wider Spanish empire kept them busy.

Hah, no Tenochitlan is THE Tenochitlan. Shua'leama is located around Portland. See the Totems and Salmon thread. The largest city in North America was Tenochitlan and Portland, once Spain invaded Mexico then Portland held that title until Spanish visitors in 1589 introduced smallpox and so Shua'leama was bumped off followed by the Californian cities taking turns as the disease and associated conflicts moved south.
 
Last edited:
California Re-Centers and Moves East

The Californian-Spanish wars of the 1770s and 1780s left several very large marks on the course of Californian society and culture.

The first of which would affect their government and foreign relations. Primarily, it was a sense of distrust of European foreigners for many, many years as the repeated invasion by the Spanish shook the California Confederacy to its structural core and would form a serious debate for its future in the 1790s. This debate would be focused on how the Confederacy should come face-to-face with the sudden shrinking of the world and revelation of world spanning outsiders.

In many of the interior regions the tribes and states of these areas spoke in the Central Council for isolation. Closing all borders and preventing the foreigners from entering California or even interacting with them. This course would have put California on a path of a hermit kingdom and eventual disaster as the world marched forward without them. The primary view of the Central Council would fortunately be to be proactive against the encroachment of the Europeans and while accepting of their trade to always make sure California would be reliant of itself.

California in comparison to Onallan would get a much greater head start on this with their capture of numerous Spanish prisoners during the initial Californian-Spanish wars. Much like Gonzalo Guerrero who became Mayanized centuries earlier dozens of Spanish captives would become Californiaized, most being either from lower tiers in New Spanish society (the majority being Mexican and African laborers and workers) or inter-marrying during their long captivity. Washburn’s expedition to California in 1805 would be greeted by a small host of mestizos in their 20s, the sons and daughters of captives from the wars. This would important toward the Californians during the war as they developed native cannon and musketry, not to mention being the first to use wheeled vehicles and through their understanding of iron smelting copying Spanish goods that would be in high demand in Onallan.

From these captives and their wars the Californians would very quickly gain a “divided we fall, together we stand” world view as they worked out that it was the greater divisions among the Natives of the east that lead to the conquest of Mexico or the English encroachment. The path of centralization in the California Confederacy was as such increased, the Confederacy working to create a stronger and stronger combined authority that could combine the numerous tribes and states of the Confederacy.

Through the 1790s-1820s this would develop but in the meanwhile California would seek to make itself self-sufficient when it came to its own “modernization”, resisting efforts by the British to flood their market with their goods was for the most part successful as while Onallan “modernized” much more quickly over the 19th century, California would do so but with much less strings attached.

Their new world view would also force them to look beyond the Central Valley. The first actions taking place in the 1790s with their annexation of much of Tal’malico during the Umpqua War, where when Onallan attempted to block the Shasta and Kal’ta peoples from joining the California Confederacy. California received the Washburn ambassadorship openly, if with restrictions and Washburn was impressed by the Californian people and their government. His recommendations to the United States government would be to seek more open relations with California as their government mirrored the American government much more than the royal rule in Onallan.

The next, more radical steps took place during the 1810s as Mexico erupted into its own war of independence. California reached out to the nascent Mexican revolutionary government and struck a deal with them. In return for financial support and for occupying Spanish forces in San Diego the new Mexican government allowed for California to purchase what would be the majority of their holdings west of the Rio Grande and north of Gilla river. The entirety of Nevada and Utah along with northern Arizona and western New Mexico. There was an option for the Californians to also buy San Diego but the Californian government narrowly passed on it, the region having seen large growth of Spanish and other European settlers they were unsure of the results of trying to absorb them.

The clear majority of the territory they would incorporate was completely underpopulated by European settlers, mostly by transient hunters and prospectors. The Native Americans in the area were numerous such as the Shoshone, Paiute, Navajo, Ute, Apache, Pueblo, Zuni and numerous other smaller tribes but not among the millions in their numbers in comparison to the Californian peoples. These peoples primarily having always lived as nomads and semi-nomads while having heard of the Californians or traded with them in a limited extent had not lived in an environment where the Onallan potato or the Californian nuts. For the Californians it would be as much a challenge for them to incorporate these peoples as the Onallan would for the Ne peoples or the United States and Mexico for the Comanche or Sioux.

Much like Onallan the Californians would push for eastward settlement to fortify their eastern and southern borders with Mexico and the United States. The pattern of settlement would take a very circular pattern. From Lake Tahoe settlers would move across the Humboldt river in Nevada to the Salt Lake area in Utah where the salt mining industry would boom. From there settlers moved south to the Colorado river and down to the Salt river valley.
 
Love the idea of a spinoff timeline, it really helps keep things organized.

Will the Californian population support colonial settler projects in the wake of epidemics? Or is their move eastward more about uniting and rallying other Native Americans under one banner?
 
Love the idea of a spinoff timeline, it really helps keep things organized.

Will the Californian population support colonial settler projects in the wake of epidemics? Or is their move eastward more about uniting and rallying other Native Americans under one banner?

It will become very problematic as epidemics reach populations that never really encountered them. It will not be pretty for the Californians, especially as some of the groups start to blame the Californians...

For now California is focused on organizing the Native groups and setting up their own urban centers towards the Rockies. For mutual protection and for profit. I can expand on it in a future post but there is hope that once California lies down urban centers and supports agriculture it will "civilize" the native groups. California is of course a very agriculture based society, it is going to be very alien to the semi-nomadic and nomadic peoples of the South-West.
 
I would definitely love to see a map of the two TL's just to see what this part of the world has become thanks to the mighty river potato!
 
This is very, VERY good. I haven't had the chance of exploring your "Land of Salmon and Totems" yet (which has been going since 2011, it seems) but this one here is indeed extremely enjoyable. I love "pre" colonial development TLs, such as Lands of Red and Gold, and this one here has a lot of promise, being really informative, as I have no idea about how the native american societies functioned in North America.
 
Top