The Ohlone people lived on the land in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 2,500 years, carefully managing plant and animal resources. They established a balance with the natural environment by techniques like controlled burning that allowed native plants to thrive. However, their ancestral lands and way of life were disrupted by the arrival of Spanish missions, Mexican ranchos, and American settlers in the 1800s. Today, Ohlone descendants are working to revive their cultural heritage by documenting traditional plant uses and languages.

1. on ohlone land Whenever the Indians took a plant
they fixed the earth up pretty afterwards . . .
It was like giving her back something she gave to us.
People entered this area more than Ramona Garibay, 2004
Ohlone, Pomo, Miwok and Yokuts descendant
12,000 years ago and were among the first
of a long migration of peoples and their
cultures into the American continents.
About 2,500 years ago, a group now
called the Ohlone settled in the Bay Area.
T he Ohlone cared for their families T he ancestral land rights of the Ohlone were
and their needs for food, fuel, and swept away by Spanish missions, Mexican ranches
shelter, changing the landscape over and US settlements, as new cultures took root.
time while respecting the delicate
balance of their natural environment.
The Ohlone burned fields so that
plants they used for food could
get more sunlight. They harvested
seeds, leaves and roots of over
500 native plants.
They hunted deer and other animals
for food. They also ate fish caught in
the waterways of the area.
I n the early 1900s,
This special garden The signs in the
Ring of Native Plants
Ohlone descendants were shows some of the give the plant names in
able to record how their
ancestors used the native
native plants of the four languages.
plants of the region. East Bay and tells in the Chochenyo or
Ohlone people today are Rumsien branch of the
how the Ohlone
recovering this heritage. Ohlone language group
used them. in Spanish
in English
Illustrations by Ukrainian artist
Louis Choris, who came to California
in Latin, for the plant’s
with a Russian exploring expedition
in 1816. He created sensitive and scientific name
significant images of the Ohlone people
under Spanish and Mexican rule.
Los folletos traducidos al español sobre todos los señalamientos se encuentran en Peralta House Coù caùc taäp saùch dòch sang tieáng Vieät cho taát caû caùc baûng hieäu taïi Peralta House.