Luiseño, << loo EES ehn yoh, >> are a Native American people of southern California. They live in the coastal and desert region around the San Luis Rey River. The Luiseño once spoke a language in the Uto-Aztecan language family. This ancient and widespread language family also includes the languages of the nearby Cahuilla, Hopi, Pueblo, and Shoshone peoples. Linguistically, however, the Luiseño are most closely related to the Acjachemen, now called Juaneño, near Mission San Juan Capistrano. The Luiseño Indians called themselves Payomkowishum, which means western people in their language. In 1798, Spanish Roman Catholic priests founded the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in the region. The native people became known as San Luiseños, later shortened to Luiseño.
As many as 10,000 Luiseño lived in many small villages before Spanish explorers first arrived in the 1700’s. Luiseño homes were dome-shaped with roofs of reeds or brush. Each village had a chief and a shaman (spiritual leader). Traditionally, the Luiseño lived by hunting and fishing and by gathering wild plant foods. Acorns served as a staple food of the Luiseño, as they did for many other indigenous (native)Californians. In addition to eating acorns, Luiseños poured poisons extracted from preparing acorns into streams. The poisons stunned fish, which the Luiseño then collected.
Diseases brought by the Spaniards took many Native American lives. Many surviving Luiseño settled on the Spanish missions, becoming known as Mission Indians. Conflicts with Mexican ranchers and American settlers claimed many more lives. In the 1880’s, the United States established several reservations in the region. Today, about 5,500 Luiseño live in the United States, mostly in southern California.
See also Mission San Luis Rey de Francia.
