Washoe people

The Washoe are an American Indian people who originally lived in the North American Lake Tahoe and in adjacent areas of the Great Basin. Your name is derived from " Wa She Shu " her: that means people in their language. Their settlement area was bounded by the southern shore of Honey Lake to the north, the western arm of the Walker River in the south, the Sierra Nevada to the west and the east.

They lived in the summer on the heights of the Sierra Nevada, in autumn on the eastern foothills; Winter and spring, they spent in the sheltered valleys. Pine nuts, collected in autumn, they were used as food in winter. Roots, seeds and berries carried the rest of the year in the diet.

The Washoe differed in linguistically and culturally very different from their neighbors, the Paiute, with whom they were often involved in armed conflicts. The Paiute learned by the Spanish conquerors the use of horses, and procured himself as a decisive advantage over the Washoe. At the time of first contact with the whites, the Washoe of the Paiute were dependent and were not allowed to own horses possess.

The land of Washoe was taken by the white settlers first possession. After their hunting grounds turned into farms and their pine forests were cut down to meet the demand for timber and charcoal for Virginia City, the Washoe be had on the farms and in the cities looking for work. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Washoe returned the land in the Carson Valley.