Washoe (people)
The Washoe are an Native American people who originally lived on Lake Tahoe, North America, and in the adjacent areas of the Great Basin . Their name is derived from "Wa She Shu": that means people in their language . Their settlement area was limited by the south bank of Honey Lake in the north, the western arm of the Walker River in the south, the Sierra Nevada in the west and in the east.
They lived on the heights of the Sierra Nevada in summer and on the eastern foothills in autumn; They spent winter and spring in the protected valleys. Pine nuts , collected in autumn, served them as food in winter. Roots, seeds and berries contributed to the diet for the rest of the year.
The Washoe were linguistically and culturally very different from their neighbors, the Paiute , with whom they were often involved in armed conflicts. The Paiute learned the use of horses from the Spanish conquerors and thus gained a decisive advantage over the Washoe. At the time of their first contact with the whites, the Washoe were dependent on the Paiute and were not allowed to own horses of their own.
The Washoe land was the first to be occupied by the white settlers. After their hunting grounds were turned into farms and their pine forests cleared to meet the needs of lumber and charcoal for Virginia City, the Washoe found work on the farms and in the cities. With the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Washoe were given back the lands in the Carson Valley.
