Chief Tenaya (died 1853) was a Native American chief of the Yosemite Valley people in California. Tenaya's father was the chief of the Ahwahneechee (or Awahnichi), blank">http://www.abovecalifornia.com/lib/Houghton/18.php which means "people of the Ahwahnee" (Yosemite Valley). The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in the area. _Lafayette Bunnell, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the Mono tribe, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne." blank">http://www.abovecalifornia.com/lib/Houghton/18.php

The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them. The few Ahwahneechee left _Yosemite Valley and joined the Mono Lake Paiutes in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grew up amongst his mother's people and married a Mono Paiute woman and had three children. Fifty years later a medicine man advised Tenaya that it was time to return to the beautiful Yosemite Valley because the sickness was gone. Tenaya took about 200 people back into Yosemite Valley. The Ahwahneechee were a powerful tribe feared by the surrounding Miwok tribes. The surrounding tribes called them Yosemite meaning "they are killers."of_word_yosemite.html" target="_blank">http://www.yosemite.ca.us/history/origin_of_word_yosemite.html

By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of California decided to send the Natives to reservations. The Mariposa Brigade was formed to carry out the relocation. Chief Tenaya agreed to move to the Fresno Reservation, instead of the destruction of his entire band. Many of his band left Yosemite Valley instead of following Tenaya. As they approached the Fresno reservation, they fled back to the Yosemite Valley. The Brigade then re-entered the Valley, captured Tenaya's sons, and killed his youngest son. Tenaya then agreed to go back to the reservation.

By the summer of 1851, Tenaya grew tired of the reservation. He gave his pledge that he would not disturb any non-indigenous people. However, in 1852, a group of _prospectors were killed in the Valley. Tenaya and his band fled to join the Mono Paiutes. He returned to the Valley in 1853. He was stoned to death in a dispute with the Mono Paiutes over stolen horses.

Tenaya Lake was named after Chief Tenaya.