Yuki people

The Yuki (also known as Yukiah) are an indigenous people of California, whose traditional territory is around Round Valley, Mendocino County. Today they are enrolled members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation.

Yuki tribes are thought to have settled as far south as Hood Mountain in present-day Sonoma County.

History

As European-American settlers began to flock to Northern California in the early 1850s, they drove the Yuki from their lands. The Indians suffered deaths in raids by the local ranchers and the authorities, and captives were taken into slavery.

In 1856, the US government established the Indian reservation of Nome Cult Farm (later to become Round Valley Indian Reservation) at Round Valley. It forced thousands of Yuki and other local tribes on to these lands, often without sufficient support for the transition. These events and tensions led to the Mendocino War (1859), where US forces killed hundreds of Yuki and took others by force to Nome Cult Farm.

Yuqui people

The Yuqui are an indigenous people of Bolivia. They primarily live in the Santa Cruz and Cochabamba Departments of eastern Bolivia.

Name

"Yuqui" has been used by Spanish-speakers since the colonial period. A possibility is the word derived from "Yaqui," meaning "younger relative." Their autonym is "Mbia," a Tupi-Guaraní term means "the people." They are also known as the Bia, Yuki, Yukí, or Yuquí people.

Language

The Yuqui language is a Guarayú language of the Tupí-Guaraní language family, written in the Latin script. The Bible was partially translated into Yuqui in 2000.

History

Their first Spanish contact was in 1548. Linguists believe that Yuqui people may have separated from the Siriono people in the 17th century. According to their own history, Yuqui people experienced disease contracted from and warfare with local Bolivians. In the 1950s the Bolivian government came into conflict with Yuqui people.

Outsiders thought that Yuqui people were part of the Siriono people; however, after sustained contact in the 1960s, a Siriono language-speaker attempted to communicate to Yuquis and discovered they were a distinct ethnic group. In 1953, there were only 43 Yuquis, while in 1990, there were 130.