Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay, also known as the Diegueño and sometimes confused with the Luiseño, are a Native American people of the extreme southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. They live in the states of California and Baja California. In Spanish the name is spelled kumiai. There are thirteen Kumeyaay reservations in southern San Diego County and four kumiai ejidos in Baja California. They are divided into three bands. Along the coast two bands were separated by the San Diego River. The northern Ipai (including Escondido to Lake Henshaw) and the southern Tipai (including Laguna Mountains, Ensenada, and Tecate)). The Kamia band occupied the Sonoran desert out to Yuma, Arizona. Nomenclature and tribal distinctions are not well-settled. It is safe to say that the Kuymeyaay
are Yuman, a branch of the Hokan language family, and from the migration out of Yuma, Arizona, several linguistically distinct but mutually intelligble groups developed: the Cucapah, the Kumeyaay, the Paipai, and the Kiliwa. The last of these groups, located on the outskirts of Ensenada, is down to three or four speakers. To learn more about Kumeyaay culture and language, visit their kumeyaay.com and kumeyaay.org web sites.
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