Mission Indians, predominantly from present-day California (although members of the Shoshone also joined), were groups of Native Americans who were brought to live in the Spanish missions in California, and there baptized as Catholics, under the patronage of Franciscan fathers, as early as 1769, when the first missions were established in California. Mission Indians were from many tribes who in the missions amalgamated together and formed new groupings.
While the term was initially applied to Southern California nations and tribes circa 1906 by Alfred L. Kroeber and Constance G. Du Bois , the term is commonly used today also in Northern California to include the natives of the seven Northern California missions.
Tribes who stem from the original Mission Indians and use this title include:
