User:Patziteypaz/sandbox

Pre-Contact

The valley and upland areas, where contemporary Livermore is located, was home to Chochenyo speaking peoples As a group, these people are considered Ohlone Costonoan with distinct cultural affiliation in contrast to and closely bordering the Bay Miwok to the north and the Valley Yokuts to the east. Four tribelets, the Yulien, Ssaoam, Ssouyn, and the Pelnen, occupied the valley floor with territory extending into the hills. Semi-permanent villages were located near water drainages at the valley floor with seasonal camps in the surrounding uplands.

1700s

A Spanish expedition led by Pedro Fages skirted the western edge of Livermore Valley in 1772. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish Mission of San Jose was founded in 1797 on the slopes of what is modern day Fremont. Mission San Jose viewed the people and land stretching to the east as under their control. Livermore Valley was called the Valley of San Jose by the Friars and actively recruited native peoples of the valley into the mission system. In contrast the valley, was also used by Native groups as a staging area for raids on Mission San Jose by neighboring tribes in this early period and beyond.

1800s

During the first seven years of the 1800s, five hundred and two individuals were baptized at Mission San Jose from the four tribelets in the Livermore Valley. In this time, Spanish military conducted raids throughout the East Bay using the valley as a natural corridor for movement. Deaths from measel outbreaks were recorded in Mission San Jose in 1806 which forced recruiting beyond the Livermore Valley and into the Altimont Range. The Livermore-Amador Valley from 1800 to about 1837 was primarily used as grazing land for the Mission San Jose's growing herds of mission cattle, sheep and horses. The valley helped San Jose Mission emerge as one of the more wealthy Spanish enclaves. As a result of the secularization of the mission system, in 1839, two large ranchos were created that encompassed the Livermore Valley; Rancho Las Positas and Rancho Valle de San Jose. Many Native groups left the San Jose Mission during this period and reestablished themselves in communities in the East Bay, including the Livermore Valley.