Kiliwa people

The Kiliwa (Kiliwa: K'olew) are an aboriginal people of northern Baja California, Mexico. They occupied a territory lying between the Cochimí on the south and the Paipai on the north, and extending from San Felipe on the Gulf of California to San Quintín on the Pacific coast. Their traditional language is the Kiliwa language.

The Ñakipa have sometimes been distinguished from the Kiliwa as a separate ethnolinguistic group within the southwestern portion of what is here considered Kiliwa territory. The limited linguistic evidence that is available for the Ñakipa indicates that they spoke the same language as the eastern Kiliwa.

Prehistory

Little archaeological research has as yet been done within Kiliwa territory. A partial exception is a sampling program of systematic survey along the west coast between El Rosario and San Quintín by Jerry D. Moore.

Radiocarbon dates and Clovis points from farther south on the peninsula suggest that the initial occupation to the north must have occurred prior to 11,000 years ago.