|Mount Diablo, is in the homeland of the Bay Miwok, and figures
in their legends and myths. 1850: not known 1880: not known
|Regions with significant populations| |California: Contra Costa
County| |Related ethnic groups| The Bay Miwok were a cultural
and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in
Northern California who lived in Contra Costa County. They
joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth
century, suffered a devastating population decline, and lost
their language as they intermarried with other native California
ethnic groups and learned the Spanish language. The Bay Miwok
were not recognized by modern anthropologists or linguists until
the mid-twentieth century. In fact, Alfred L. Kroeber, father of
California anthropology, who knew of one of their constituent
local groups, the Saclan (his Saklan), from nineteenth century
manuscript sources, presumed that they spoke an Ohlone (aka
Costanoan) language. In 1955 linguist Madison Beeler recognized
an 1821 vocabulary take