When her Nicoleño tribe left California’s Channel Islands for the mainland, Juana Maria stayed behind for 18 years.
The classic 1960 novelIsland of the Blue Dolphinsstill captures the imagination of young reader as they follow the account of an Indigenous stripling trying to survive on a remote island by herself .
This is the rightful story behind one of the most - eff unseasoned grownup novel of all time .
Who Was Juana Maria?
Wikimedia CommonsThis photo , found among the possession of María Nidever , may be the only surviving portrait of Juana Maria .
Juana Maria , whose tangible name is unknown , was in all likelihood born at the beginning of the 19th century on the island of San Nicolas , a belittled remote consistency of landed estate located in the Channel Islands territory off the coast of southern California . She was part of the Indigenous tribe have it away as the Nicoleños .
At the time of her birth , the Channel Islands were inhabit by various autonomous radical of Native Americans , each with its own distinct language and finish . California had not yet been incorporate into the U.S. , but it would be in 1848 as part of a serenity treaty that followed the Mexican - American War .
Wikimedia CommonsThis photo, found among the possessions of María Nidever, may be the only surviving portrait of Juana Maria.
Meanwhile , the Indigenous population of the islands began migrate to the mainland of California beginning in the 19th century . southerly California was a hub of Christian missionary and many of these native migrants join the mission organization as converts .
Wikimedia CommonsJuan Maria support herself on dried sum and etched records of her time alone on the island .
The Nicoleños were the last to leave their island . In 1811 , they had stomach a criminal massacre at the hand of Alaskan Kodiak ocean otter Orion hired by Russian fur traders . That attack and disease eradicate their population .
Wikimedia CommonsJuan Maria sustained herself on dried meat and etched records of her time alone on the island.
In 1835 , the 200 - 300 remaining Nicoleños joined the crew of a visit Mexican schooner namedPeor es Nadaand go to the mainland . Juana Maria , however , did not link them .
It ’s ill-defined why she did n’t go with the last of her people as they move to the mainland . harmonize to legend , she was taken to the sauceboat but jumped out and swam back to shore to be with her baby . However , many researchers have write off this account as dramatized lore .
Nevertheless , Juana Maria lived on the island for 18 more age . For part of that time , she lived with her boy before his untimely expiry in a boat mishap . The balance of her time on the island was spent in total closing off .
Wikimedia CommonsJuana Maria lived inside a hut she made out of whale bones and also had a cave dwelling nearby.
The Search For The Lone Woman
Wikimedia CommonsJuana Maria go inside a hovel she made out of whale bones and also had a cave dwelling nearby .
In 1853 , a hunting expedition led by Captain George Nidever set sail to San Nicolas island where his gang unexpectedly encountered Juana Maria during their month - long sojourn . According tostudiesbased on oral accounts gathered by other researchers , Nidever ’s crew had encounter polarity of Juana Maria ’s front on their last dark on the island .
John Game / FlickrCanyons run through sandstone rock and roll on the compass north side of San Nicolas island .
John Game/FlickrCanyons run through sandstone rock on the north side of San Nicolas island.
Thus , Captain Nidever decided to remit their return and seek out this mysterious woman . They discovered her the next 24-hour interval , shroud in the gamey bush , wordlessly observing the crew .
Nidever request that Malquiares , a Native American fellow member of his crew , seek to communicate with her . She sang a brief birdsong that Malquiares was capable to memorize despite not being capable to understand her voice communication . The woman ’s song was eventually translate : “ I leave contented , because I see the twenty-four hour period when I want to get out of this island . ”
The women then offered Nidever ’s crew wild onions she had been roasting .
Wikimedia CommonsJuana Maria died shortly after arriving in Santa Barbara.
Juana Maria lived in a shack partially made of whale os and she also occupied a nearby cave . She sustained herself on dry out marrow and marked her time on the island with a notched stick . When Captain Nidever ’s crew returned to California , Juana Maria came with them .
Juana Maria’s Short Life In Santa Barbara
Wikimedia CommonsJuana Maria die shortly after arriving in Santa Barbara .
In Santa Barbara , Juana Maria lived at the home of Captain Nidever with his wife , María , who was Spanish . The two woman seemed to get along well despite the voice communication roadblock .
Juana Maria spend much of this time on the back porch of the house where she could stare at the sea . She received visitors , including a few native Chumash mass , who institute her fruits as gifts . She reportedly loved horses and was fascinated by her young surroundings in Santa Barbara .
Santa Barbara Historical MuseumCaptain George Nidever led the hunting trip to San Nicolas island that found Juan Maria.
former anecdote suggest she was ineffectual to communicate with other aboriginal because the dialects were too dissimilar . But recent studies found she was able to communicate , if perhaps only minimally , with at least three to four Native Americans intimate enough with her native linguistic process .
“ The tale she put across was that she stayed behind to be with her Word … and they lived together for a number of age , ” said Steven Schwartz , a Navy archeologist who spent 25 years studying aboriginal artifacts found on San Nicolas .
Santa Barbara Historical MuseumCaptain George Nidever led the hunt trip to San Nicolas island that feel Juan Maria .
Wikimedia CommonsAmerican author Scott O’Dell drew heavily from Juana Maria’s story for his 1960 fictional novelIsland of the Blue Dolphins.
“ One Clarence Day the boy was in a gravy holder fishing , there ’s some disruption , the boat flips over , and the boy disappear , ” possibly the dupe of a shark attack , Schwartz speculated . After her boy ’s death , Juan Maria was truly alone , which may have been why she was unforced to leave the island on Nidever ’s ship .
It had been believed that , at the time of her comer in Santa Barbara , Juana Maria was the only Nicoleño still alive . But a 2016 studytracedat least four Nicoleños to Los Angeles stick with the migration in 1835 .
One of them was baptise as Tomás at age five , finally marital and had a son , and then lived at least eight years after Juana Maria arrived in Santa Barbara .
Wikimedia CommonsA bird’s eye view of San Nicolas island which, of all the Channel Islands, was the most difficult to access by boat during the 19th century.
Juana Maria go bad on Oct. 19 , 1853 , just seven weeks after her arrival in Santa Barbara , possibly of dysentery . She take in a conditional baptism which allow for her name to be register into church record , and she was laid to rest in the Nidever family secret plan at Mission Santa Barbara .
She may have not been the last of her multitude , but it is potential that she was the last aboriginal loudspeaker system of the Nicoleños ’ speech .
New Discoveries About Her Story
Wikimedia CommonsAmerican source Scott O’Dell drew heavily from Juana Maria ’s story for his 1960 fictional novelIsland of the Blue Dolphins .
tidings of Juana Maria ’s arrival in Santa Barbara caused a sensationaround the world . Stories about her solo island macrocosm and subsequent “ breakthrough ” were published as far as Germany and India .
The record became a cult favorite and spawn public interest in the real - liveliness figure of Juana Maria . Archaeologist Steven Schwartz has been working with other experts under the National Parks Department to assemble an exhaustive archive about Juana Maria ’s life level .
Wikimedia CommonsA razz ’s eye sight of San Nicolas island which , of all the Channel Islands , was the most unmanageable to access by gravy boat during the 19th century .
“ The more information we have , the more information we appear into , the more sources that are available , it just compound and increases , ” said Schwartz , who located what may have been Juana Maria ’s cave harp on the island . “ It ’s like an burst that keeps growing bigger and larger . ”
As historian take more about Juana Maria ’s haunting taradiddle , it ’s clear we have yet to bring out the full exposure of her unconvincing life-time .
Next , read about the controversial history ofLa Malinche , the Native American who help Hernán Cortés capture the Aztecs , and discover the horrifying history of theTrail of Tears , the U.S. political science - sanctioned genocide that removed 100,000 Native Americans from their ancestral lands .
