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A NATIVE LAND: OAKLAND PRE 1852

Monday, July 31, 2017 18:20

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INTRODUCTION

The City of Oakland, located in the Bay Area of Northern California, is famously considered a “melting pot” of ethnicities- a region known for its multiculturalism. Oakland’s unique culture and demographic is a result from years of urban formation and reconstruction. Although the city was formally incorporated in 1852, the physical land that Oakland rests on has a history stemming back as far as ~2000 B.C.E. Specifically looking at its pre-incorporated time period, the following analysis attempts to identify and explain the historical events that helped frame Oakland’s foundation in becoming a city.

NATIVE INHABITANTS: THE OHLONE TRIBE

Figure 1: An illustrated depiction of the Ohlone people (http://www.missionscalifornia.com/sites/default/files/snjose-05-Ohlone-indians-dancing.jpg)

The coastal region of central and northern California, which includes Oakland, has a history recording back to 2000 B.C.E. The inhabitants at the time were the Ohlone people- a Native American tribe formally known as the “Costanoans.” Up until the 1770’s when Spanish explorers first discovered the area, the Ohlone people occupied the land and utilized its resources. They were mainly recorded as hunter-gathers, but they also engaged in basic forms of agriculture. Like most Native American tribes, the Ohlone felt a close tie to the natural environment. The hills and mountainsides were covered with a combination of grasslands, redwoods, and oak forests, while the coastlines consisted of large rocky areas and vast marshlands (Williams, 2003: 11). They learned to live in these spaces while utilizing its variety of resources to serve their essential needs- from harvesting plants, nuts, and grasses to hunting different kinds of animals, including bobcats, coyotes, and ducks.

Upon living within these physical spaces, the Ohlone Indians organized themselves into a complex network of approximately 50 tribes, or villages, having an average of 200 people in each; where they interacted through trade, intermarriage, and ceremonial events. These individual villages, along with the way they interacted with one another, provide a glimpse in how the land was divided and arranged.

Figure 2: Picture of the Ohlone villages and their proximity from one another (http://www.foundsf.org/images/a/a6/Ecology1%24ohlone-village.jpg)

The picture above illustrates how these villages were constructed in relation to one another. With each maintaining its own stock of natural goods, trade among the different villages facilitated the flow of resources, technology, and most importantly, culture (Skowronek, 1998: 707). From an urban planning perspective, this network of resource trading between villages helped establish the region’s first basic form of planning. Consequently influencing the view that its ensuing inhabitants have on the landscape. It is most important to understand that the Ohlone people respected their land and organized their way of life around this consciousness. Yet, all of this changed once the Spanish empire decided to expand its territorial claims in the late 1700’s by colonizing and Christianizing the entire coastal region of the Bay Area.

SPANISH SETTLEMENT AND THE “MISSION ERA”

In 1769, a Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portola arrived on the coast of present-day Monterey marking the areas first European encounter and settlement. Along with its military-enforced colonization, the Spanish empire also sent a group of Franciscan missionaries whose main purpose was to establish a chain of missions that brought Christianity to the native Ohlone people (Skowronek, 1998: 677).

The subsequent years became known as the “Mission Era” due to the rapid expansion and establishment of missions within the coastal region. Specifically, the establishment of Mission de San Jose in present-day Fremont extended and legitimized Spanish jurisdiction over the area that would be Oakland. In general, the Spanish mission culture disrupted and challenged the original social structures of the Ohlone people. As a part of the conversion process, many of the Ohlone people were brought into the missions to live and work (Lee, 1990). Consequently, the network of villages originally established by the Ohlone became reconstructed with the layout becoming centered on the missions. After years of living under Spanish rule, the Ohlone culture begins to diminish- eventually to the point where every aspect of their native lifestyle and traditions became virtually extinct. In addition, poor sanitation and lack of medical care in the missions also contributed to the Ohlone’s shrinking population size.

Figure 3: Map of the Spanish missions along the coastal region of present-day California (http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/colonial/missions-ca.jpg)

Spain’s colonization of the Ohlone region suggests a drastic change in the physical layout of present-day Oakland. Its shift from a complex, resource-oriented network to a more colonial establishment centered on religion reflects an even greater phenomenon: a shift in the functionality of land use. Coming from a time when the land’s resources dictated its functionality, the Spanish missions redistributed the land to be focused on cultural manipulation.

THE AMERICAN ANNEXATION AND AN INCORPORATED CITY

In the year 1820, the King of Spain decided to award soldier Luis Maria Peralta for serving in the Spanish army by granting him an allotted 44,800-acres of land which would have encompassed most of present-day Alameda county. This would become a significant event in the evolution of Oakland’s region because it would eventually spark an influx of American settlers.

The allotted land deeded by the Spanish crown would eventually be reapproved as the Mexican Republic gained its independence from Spanish rule. Subsequently, the Mexican Republic decided to secularize the land and property formerly organized by its missions and redistributed them onto the Mexican authorities. With Peralta’s land reapproved, the land’s control remained under his family’s name. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta decided to divide up his land among his four sons. Yet, most of what would become Oakland gets distributed mostly to his two sons, Antonio Maria and Vicente.

Antonio Maria and Vicente opened up their lands to a diverse group of settlers. Most of which were American settlers, loggers, European whalers and fur traders. With its land being accessible to outsiders, full-scale logging operations were born in the East Bay hills and eventually the area became predominantly inhabited by American settlers. Eventually, the influx of Americans on the land became legitimized when the Mexican Republic and the United States government decided to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848- ending the Mexican-American

Figure 4: Map showing the areas annexed by the U.S. after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (http://www.crfforum.org/images/t/map.gif/-/resize/545/0/)

The Treaty declared that the Mexican Republic would cede to the United States all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and parts of other states in exchange for $15 Million dollars. Now that Oakland’s area is annexed to the United States, the incorporation of new settlements, developments, and inflows of peoples began to fill the coastal regions.

To further drive its development, the California Gold Rush coincidentally began in 1848. The East Bay became the mainland staging point for passengers and cargo that traveled between the Bay and the Sierra foothills. The Gold Rush brought about an increased inflow of peoples coming from across the country in hopes of striking gold along the Bay.

In comparison to the Ohlone villages and the Spanish missions, the area that would eventually be Oakland has evolved tremendously in its functionality within an urban space. Newer settlements under the U.S. annexation have opened up the land to newer uses; most of which is driven by the Gold Rush. In 1850, under the collective action of its settlers, organization and planning began as an effort to draft an Act that would incorporate the Town of Oakland into the State Legislature. After a series of legislative drafts and reediting, the California State Legislature officially incorporated the town of Oakland on May 4th, 1852.

Figure 5: Illustration of American settlers traveling through Oakland as it recognizes its date of incorporation (http://whomadeoakland.com/Read_files/oakland_1852.jpg)

The progression in Oakland’s development embodies a theme characterized by change and adaptation. Through its history starting with the Ohlone Indians, then the Spanish Missions, and eventually its annexation into the United States, the Bay Area learned to adapt to the periodic changes that controlled its region’s function. Altogether, its evolution shaped and formed the necessary components that constitute its foundation as a city.

-Work Cited-

1) Skowronek, Russell K. (1998). Sifting the Evidence: Perceptions of Life at the Ohlone (Costanoan) Missions of Alta California. Ethnohistory. Duke University Press. Vol. 45, No. 4 (Autumn, 1998) pp. 675-708

2) Williams, Jack S. (2003). The Ohlone of California. The Library of Native Americans. The Rosen Publishing Group. Pg. 1-64.

3) Lee, Antoinette J. (1990). Spanish Missions. APT Bulletin. Association for Preservation Technology International. Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 42-54.

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