In 'Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820', Sherburne Friend Cook delves deep into the exploration efforts in the early 19th century of the California Central Valley. Cook meticulously details the expeditions made by Spanish colonial authorities and missionaries to map and conquer this vast region, shedding light on the challenges they faced and the impact of their presence on the indigenous populations. Written in a scholarly yet accessible style, this book provides valuable insight into the colonial history of California and the interactions between different cultural groups during this period. Cook's thorough research and engaging narrative make this a must-read for anyone interested in early Californian history. Sherburne Friend Cook, a renowned historian and expert in Spanish colonial history, brings his expertise to bear in this book, drawing on primary sources and archival documents to reconstruct these expeditions with accuracy and nuance. His passion for the subject is evident throughout the book, making it a compelling and informative read for history enthusiasts and scholars alike. I highly recommend 'Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820' to anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of early colonial exploration in California and its lasting effects on the region.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This is the first comprehensive environmental history of California’s Great Central Valley, where extensive freshwater and tidal wetlands once provided critical habitat for tens of millions of migratory waterfowl. Weaving together ecology, grassroots politics, and public policy, Philip Garone tells how California’s wetlands were nearly obliterated by vast irrigation and reclamation projects, but have been brought back from the brink of total destruction by the organized efforts of duck hunters, whistle-blowing scientists, and a broad coalition of conservationists. Garone examines the many demands that have been made on the Valley’s natural resources, especially by large-scale agriculture, and traces the unforeseen ecological consequences of our unrestrained manipulation of nature. He also investigates changing public and scientific attitudes that are now ushering in an era of unprecedented protection for wildlife and wetlands in California and the nation.

A readable and succinct account of how Indians fared under their Spanish Franciscan colonizers.

This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies, undertaking detailed regional and thematic case-studies that span the archaeology, history and anthropology of hunter gatherers, concluding with an in-depth review of the main opportunities, research questions, and moral obligations that lie ahead.

California Archaeology provides a compilation of knowledge for archeologists who are not California specialists. This book explains important cultural events and patterns discovered archeologically. Organized into 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of California's historic and ancient environments as well as the evidence of Pleistocene human activity. This text then examines the glacial and other environmental conditions that would have influenced the origins, adaptations, and spread of the earliest North Americans. Other chapters consider how California's past is relevant to a wider understanding of human behavior. This book discusses as well the perceptions of Central Coast and San Francisco Bay region prehistory that have changed rapidly as a result of intensive fieldwork performed to comply with environmental law. The final chapter deals with the data of historical linguistics, which indicate something of the cultural relationships and events that might have occurred in the past. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists.

Celebrating the 150th birthday of the state of California offers the opportunity to reexamine the founding of modern California, from the earliest days through the Gold Rush and up to 1870. In this four-volume series, published in association with the California Historical Society, leading scholars offer a contemporary perspective on such issues as the evolution of a distinctive California culture, the interaction between people and the natural environment, the ways in which California's development affected the United States and the world, and the legacy of cultural and ethnic diversity in the state. California before the Gold Rush, the first California Sesquicentennial volume, combines topics of interest to scholars and general readers alike. The essays investigate traditional historical subjects and also explore such areas as environmental science, women's history, and Indian history. Authored by distinguished scholars in their respective fields, each essay contains excellent summary bibliographies of leading works on pertinent topics. This volume also features an extraordinary full-color photographic essay on the artistic record of the conquest of California by Europeans, as well as over seventy black-and-white photographs, some never before published.