Yurok people

The Yurok, whose name means "downriver people" in the neighboring Karuk language, are Native American who live in northwestern California near the Klamath River and Pacific coast. Their autonym is Olekwo'l meaning "Persons." Today they live on the Yurok Indian Reservation, on several rancherias, or throughout Humboldt County.

History

Traditionally, Yurok people lived in permanent villages along the Klamath River. Some of the villages date back to the 14th century.

Their first contact with non-Natives was when Spanish explorers entered their territory in 1775. Fur traders and trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company came in 1827. Following encounters with white settlers moving into their aboriginal lands during a gold rush in 1850, the Yurok were faced with disease and massacres that reduced their population by 75%. In 1855, following the Klamath and Salmon River Indian War most of those that remained were forcibly relocated to the Yurok Indian Reservation on the Klamath River.

Today

On November 24, 1993, the Yurok Tribe adopted a constitution that details the jurisdiction and territory of their lands. Under the Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-580, qualified applicants had the option of enrolling in the...
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