Pomo
The Pomo are a Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small group, the Tceefoka (Northeastern Pomo), lived in the vicinity of present-day Stonyford, Colusa County, were they were separated from the majority of Pomo lands by Yuki and Wintuan speakers.
For other uses, see Pomo (disambiguation).The name Pomo derives from a conflation of the Pomo words [pʰoːmoː] and [pʰoʔmaʔ].[1] It originally meant "those who live at red earth hole" and was once the name of a village in southern Potter Valley, near the present-day community of Pomo, Mendocino County.[2] The word may also have referred to the local deposits of red magnesite (mined and utilized for making red beads) or to the reddish, earthen clay soil of the area, rich in hematite (also mined for use).[3] In the Northern Pomo dialect, -pomo or -poma was used as a suffix after the names of places, to mean a subgroup of people of the place.[3][4] By 1877, the meaning of the word Pomo had been broadened, at least in the English language, to refer to not only the Pomo language but the entire group of people speaking it, as well—the people known as Pomo, today.[3]
Population[edit]
Demographics[edit]
In 1770 there were about 8,000 Pomo people; in 1851 population was estimated between 3,500 and 5,000; and in 1880 estimated at 1,450.[23] Anthropologist Samuel Barrett estimated a population of 747 in 1908, but that is probably low; fellow anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber reported 1,200 Pomo counted in the 1910 Census.[24] According to the 1930 Census there were 1,143 Pomo, and by the 1990 Census there were 4,766.[25]
According to the 2010 United States Census, there are 10,308 Pomo people in the United States. Of these, 8,578 reside in California.[26]