History
Traditionally, Yurok people lived in permanent villages along the Klamath River. Some of the villages date back to the 14th century. They fished for salmon along rivers, gathered ocean fish and shellfish, hunted game, and gathered plants.
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 the Lower Klamath River Indian Reservation was created by executive order. The Reservation boundaries included a portion of the Yurok's aboriginal territory and most of the Yurok villages. As a result, the Yurok people were not forcibly removed from their traditional homelands. They continue to live in these same villages today.
Read more about this topic: Yurok People
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