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Kumeyaay Indians of Baja California, Mexico and Southern California, USA

The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the United States. They are an indigenous people of California. The Kumeyaay language belongs to the Yuman–Cochimí language family. The Kumeyaay consist of three related groups, the 'Iipai, Tiipai, and Kamia. The San Diego River loosely divided the 'Iipay and the Tiipai historical homelands, while the Kamia lived in the eastern desert areas. The 'Iipai lived to the north, from Escondido to Lake Henshaw, while the Tiipai lived to the south, in lands including the Laguna Mountains, Ensenada, and Tecate. The Kamia lived to the east in an area that included Mexicali and bordered the Salton Sea.

The Kumeyaay or 'Iipai Tiipai were formerly known as the Diegueños, the former Spanish name applied to the Mission Indians living along the San Diego River. They are referred to as the Kumiai in Mexico. The term Kumeyaay translates as "People of the west", with the word meyaay meaning "steep" or "cliff".

Evidence of the settlement in what is today considered Kumeyaay territory may go back twelve millennia. Circa 7000 B. C. marked the emergence of two cultural traditions: the California Coast and Valley tradition and the Desert tradition. The Kumeyaay had land along the Pacific Ocean from present Oceanside, California in the north to south of Ensenada, Mexico and extending east to the Colorado River. The Cuyamaca complex, a late Holocene complex in San Diego County is related to the Kumeyaay peoples. The Kumeyaay tribe also used to inhabit what is now a popular state park, known as Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. One view holds that historic 'Iipai Tiipai emerged around one millennium ago, though a "proto 'Iipai Tiipai culture" had been established by about 5000 B. C. Katherine Luomola suggests that the "nucleus of later Tipai Ipai groups" came together around A. D. 1000. The Kumeyaay themselves traditionally hold that they have lived in San Diego since 10,000 B. C. At the time of European contact, Kumeyaay comprised several autonomous bands with thirty patrilineal clans.

The first European to visit the region was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. He had initially met with the Kumeyaay, but this did not lead to any colonial settlement. Sebastián Vizcaíno also visited in 1602 and met with a band of Kumeyaay during the feast of San Diego de Alcalá, thus giving the region of San Diego its name; however, this also did not lead to colonial settlement.

In 1769, the Portolá expedition anchored in San Diego Bay and, once on land, traveled to the Kumeyaay village of Cosoy (Kosa'aay) to recover and resupply. After their recovery, the Spanish established a presidio over the village and the Misión San Diego de Alcalá, incorporating the village into the settlement of San Diego. In 1769, under the Spanish Mission system, bands living near Misión San Diego de Alcalá (overlooking the San Diego River, in present day Mission Valley), were called Diegueños; later bands, living near Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, were called the Luiseño. The Spaniards brought with them new, non native, invasive flora and domestic animals, which brought about some level of degradation to local ecology. This included grazing and foraging livestock animals such as pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses, donkeys, and various birds, like chickens, pheasants and ducks; the latter dirtying local water sources considerably. After years of sexual assaults from the Spanish soldiers in the Presidio, and physical torture of Mission Indians using metal tipped whips (by Mission staff), the 'Iipay Tiipay Kumeyaay villages led a revolt against the Spanish, burning down Mission San Diego and killing Father Luis Jayme along with two others. Missionaries and church leaders “apologized” and forgave the Kumeyaay, rebuilding their mission closer to the Kumeyaay village of Nipaquay or Nipawai. Ultimately, the Spanish solidified their control over the area until the end of the mission era.

In the east, the Kamia Kumeyaay were engaged in an armed regional conflict in the Colorado River region against a coalition of Yuman speaking tribes east of the Colorado River and the Cahuilla led by the Maricopa. The Kumeyaay aligned with Quechan led coalition, along with the Mohave, Yavapai, Chemehuevi, and other smaller groups on the Colorado River. The Spanish mediated peace talks between the two warring factions in the mid 1770s, largely siding with the Quechan aligned alliance. However, increased tensions between the Spanish and the Quechan led to resumed conflict in 1781, but with the Spanish being denied overland access to Alta California and siding with the Maricopa aligned coalition. The Spanish would then refocus their attention westwards to secure their maritime access to Alta California on 'Iipay Tiipay Kumeyaay lands.

The Mexican Empire assumed ownership of Kumeyaay lands after defeating Spain in the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. The following year, Mexican troops confiscated all coastal lands from the Kumeyaay in 1822, granting much of the land to Mexican settlers, who became known as Californios, to develop the land for agriculture, beginning the California rancho era. Kumeyaay fell victim to smallpox and malaria epidemics in 1827 and 1832, reducing their population. Various disputes culminated to a skirmish between the Kumeyaay and Mexican soldiers stationed in San Diego in 1826, killing 26 Kumeyaay. After decades of debates and delays, the missions in Alta California were secularized in 1833, and Ipai and Tipais lost their lands; band members had to choose between becoming serfs, trespassers, rebels, or fugitives. This increased tensions between the Kumeyaay and the Mexican settlers as the economic instability threatened the security of Mexican and American merchants transiting through the area.

Under territorial governor José Figueroa, some of the Kumeyaay from Mission San Diego were allowed to resettle and establish San Pasqual pueblo in 1835, who would later become the San Pasqual Band of Diegueno Mission Indians. The Kumeyaay pueblo fought against hostile bands and protected Mexican settlers, with a decisive victory over an anti Christian uprising and capturing its leader, Claudio. With conditions worsening, the Kumeyaay led an attack on Rancho Tecate in 1836, forcing the alcalde of San Diego to send an expedition to suppress the Kumeyaay, but returned unsuccessfully. Because of the failed venture, Mexico failed to adequately suppress talk of Californian secession from American settlers in northern Alta California.

During the Mexican–American War, the Kumeyaay were initially neutral. The Kumeyaay of the San Pasqual pueblo were evacuated as the Americans approached the town. The Mexicans and the Californios were victorious over the Americans at the Battle of San Pasqual. A Kumeyaay leader, Panto, called on the Mexicans to cease hostilities with the Americans so that the Kumeyaay could tend to the wounded Americans, to which provided Panto and the San Pasqual Kumeyaay resupplied the Americans and helped ensure the American capture of the Pueblo de Los Ángeles and San Diego. However, not all Kumeyaay bands fought on the same side of the Yuma war; the San Pasqual Band of Kumeyaay fought against the Quechan campaign to attack San Diego and defeated the Quechan in the San Pasqual Valley. The Kumeyaay withdrew from the war after the capitulation of the Cahuilla to the US and the failed attempt to capture Fort Yuma. Compared to other California tribes, the Kumeyaay did not face the same magnitude of destruction and exploitation under the California genocide. This was due to the strategic positioning of the Kumeyaay and the lack of gold in the mountains. Additionally, Mexican officials in Baja California Territory threatened to intervene in the conflict if they committed any atrocities on tribes along the border, due to a mix of Mexican sympathies towards the Native Californians and a fear of refugees coming across the border.

On January 7, 1852, representatives of a number of Kumeyaay clans, including Panto, met with Commissioner Oliver M. Wozencraft and negotiated the Treaty of Santa Ysabel. The agreement was part of the "18 Treaties" of California, negotiated to protect Indian land rights. After the 18 Treaties were completed, the documents were sent to the United States Senate for approval. Under pressure from white settlers and the California Senate delegation, the treaties were all rejected. Some Kumeyaay chose not to establish a reservation inland and sought work in San Diego, many of whom migrated to the Kumeyaay village in what is now Balboa Park led by the Florida Canyon Kumeyaay Band. The village experienced growth after receiving immigrants from other Kumeyaay bands as well as from other indigenous Californian and Bajeno tribes, who sought work in the city, transforming the village into a neighborhood integrated into the city fabric. The village was then demolished in the early 1900s in preparation for the 1915 Panama California Exposition, displacing the residents of the village. In 1932, the Coapan Kumeyaay living and farming on the San Diego River were removed to make way for the El Capitan Dam and Reservoir and relocated their inhabitants at the Barona Reservation and the Viejas Reservation, further cutting down the agricultural capacity of the Kumeyaay reservations.

Kumeyaay people supported themselves by farming and agricultural wage labor; however, a 20 year drought in the mid 20th century crippled the region's dry farming economy. For their common welfare, several reservations in the US formed the non profit Kumeyaay, Inc.

Cuts in Native American welfare programs under the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations forced the reservation to find other means of income and capitalize on industries not possible off reservation. In 1982, the Barona Band won its case in Barona Group of the Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians v. Duffy (1982) to operate high stakes bingo games, leading to the expansion of many Kumeyaay bingo operators into the casino industry. This helped establish Las Vegas style gaming operations in the reservations in the region, evaporating reservation unemployment and poverty in a short time. In total, the Kumeyaay operate six casinos: Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino, Sycuan Resort and Casino, Viejas Casino & Resort, Valley View Casino and Hotel, Golden Acorn Casino and Travel Center, and Jamul Casino. This San Diego County Board of Supervisors repealed these policies in May 2021. The relative success of gaming operations on many reservations has allowed them to buy naming rights of infrastructure around the San Diego region, such as the Sycuan Green Line of the San Diego Trolley and the SDSU Viejas Arena. Some reservations have also diversified their economic profile such as Campo Reservation based Muht Hei inc which oversees the reservation's wind farm or Sycuan Band's acquisition of the U. S. Grant Hotel. Additionally, Sycuan also became the first Native American tribe to own part of a professional soccer franchise by becoming the co owner of San Diego FC, a Major League Soccer expansion team, and the second to have an ownership stake in any professional sports team.

On the Mexican side of the border, Kumeyaay reservations manufacture traditional craftwork to sell on the American side of the border with partnering Kumeyaay souvenir gift shops and casinos. Many Kumeyaay there have moved into urban areas to seek better employment opportunities compared to their agrarian employment on the reservation. The depopulation of their reservations has allowed neighboring non native Ejidos to encroach on their lands. The Kumeyaay reservations on the Mexican side of the border have largely retained their traditional heritage. Some reservations faced water shortages, making it difficult to continue agricultural operation. This led many communities to enter wine tasting and tourism industries in the Guadalupe Valley. Many bands began launching wine tours and festivals to attract tourists and foreign visitors from southern California and cruise passengers stopping at the Port of Ensenada.

Prior to Western assimilation, the Kumeyaay were organized into bands or clans called sibs or shiimull, which were grounded in family lineages with each sib home for 5 to 15 families. Each sib had their own territory and had the right to enforce land property rights in punishing thieves and trespassers. However, Kumeyaay did recognize the right to water and were also obligated to share food with visitors. The Kumeyaay had a patriarchal society where the position of chief, or Kwaapaay, was inherited from the father to son, although widows were sometimes permitted to assume the position. It was the Kwaapaay's role to protect traditions, hold ceremonies, and resolve disputes and was responsible for political, religious, and economic activities of the sib. Future Kwaapaays were often selected by a Kwaapaay of another with no family relations to ensure impartiality.

Kumeyaay generally lived in dome shaped homes made from branches and covered with leaves of willow or tule, called 'ewaa. These structures had a hole at the top to let smoke out and rocks along its base to keep out wind and small animals. They hunted for animals such as birds, rabbits, squirrels, and woodrats, as well as larger animals like antelope, deer, and mountain sheep. The Kumeyaay also ate more nutrient rich insects such as crickets, grubs and grasshoppers. In another story, Tcaipakomat and Yokomatis have their eyes closed from the blinding salt water. Yokomatis tries to see atop the water, but opens his eyes and is blinded. Tcaipakomat goes on top of the water and sees nothing, so he makes little red ants (miskiluiw, ciracir) which fill the water with their bodies to make land. Then Tcaipakomat makes a type of black bird with a flat bill (xanyil) to come into being, but they were lost without their roosts, so Tcaipakomat takes red clay, yellow clay, and black clay to make a round flat object, and throws it into the sky to make a dimly shining moon (halya). Tcaipakomat tries again with another piece of clay to make the brighter sun (inyau). Then he takes a light colored piece of clay (mutakwic), and splits it up, making a man, and the a woman (Sinyaxau, First Woman). The children of this man and this woman are people (ipai).

The Kumeyaay Community College was created by the Sycuan Band to serve the Kumeyaay Diegueño Nation, and describes its mission as "to support cultural identity, sovereignty, and self determination while meeting the needs of native and non native students". The college's focus is on "Kumeyaay History, Kumeyaay Ethnobotany and traditional Indigenous arts" It "serves and relies on resources from the thirteen reservations of the Kumeyaay Nation situated in San Diego county". In the fall of 2016, Cuyamaca College began offering an associate degree in Kumeyaay Studies with courses at its Rancho San Diego campus, as well as at Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan reservation. The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming was also established at SDSU by the Sycuan Band with the focus on research and policy related to the tribal gaming industry.

Estimates for the pre contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. In 1925, Alfred L. Kroeber proposed that the population of the Kumeyaay in the San Diego region in 1770 had been about 3,000. More recently, Katharine Luomala points out that this estimate depended on calculations of rates of baptisms at the Mission, and as such "ignores the unbaptized". She suggests that the region could have supported 6,000–9,000 people. Florence C. Shipek goes further, estimating 16,000–19,000 inhabitants. In the late eighteenth century, it is estimated that the Kumeyaay population was between 3,000 and 9,000. In 1828, 1,711 Kumeyaay were recorded by the missions. The 1860 federal census recorded 1,571 Kumeyaay living in 24 villages. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recorded 1,322 Kumeyaay in 1968, with 435 living on reservations. By 1990, an estimated 1,200 lived on reservation lands, while 2,000 lived elsewhere.