California Indian Resistance 1824: A Biography of Pacomio Poqui

Despite the paucity of documentary sources concerning Pacomio and his life story, much can be reconstructed, I believe, from the historical and cultural milieu that surrounded him. Thus, the following biographical exploration is an endeavor to flesh out the few available facts about this valorous personality by interpreting his agency and influence in the native as well as the Spanish colonial and Mexican national contexts which shaped his trajectory. As Pacomio is still venerated by thousands of Californians who claim Chumash ancestry, it is time to pay homage to one of the valiant protagonists of the indigenous heroic age.