Juana Maria, the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island

Island of the Blue Dolphins is a book written by the American author Scott O’Dell about a girl stranded on an island in the Pacific. This popular children’s novel is based on a real story of a woman left on an island off the California coast for 18 years. The protagonist in the Island of the Blue Dolphins was modelled after Juana Maria, better known as the ‘Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island’.

Fur was one of the natural resources that was traded between the natives of North America and the European colonists. By the 1800s, the colonists were getting these valuable furs by themselves, and companies were set up to fulfil the demands of the market. One such merchant company was the Russian-American Company, established and controlled by Russia. In 1811, the company began hunting otters along the Californian coast, as the pelts of these animals were highly valued. A group of Kodiak natives from Alaska, said to number between 25 and 30, were hired as hunters for this expedition.

At some point during the expedition, the Kodiaks were left on San Nicolas Island to hunt for the seals. Although the island was remote, it was not uninhabited, as it was home to a Native American tribe known as the ‘Nicoleños’. The Kodiaks came into conflict with the islanders, and slaughtered most of the Nicoleño males. The women were then taken as slaves. History is unclear regarding the fate of the Kodiaks. Whether they simply left the island, or were killed by the Nicoleño women is anybody’s guess, as they subsequently vanished.

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