Olompali, California

{{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement   |name = Olompali |other_name = Olómpali<br>Õlõmpõ'llï |native_name = |nickname = |settlement_type =Former settlement |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |pushpin_map =California |pushpin_label_position =bottom |pushpin_mapsize = |pushpin_map_caption =Location in California  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name =[[United States]] |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = [[California]] |subdivision_type2 =County |subdivision_name2 = [[Marin County, California|Marin County]] |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = | |established_title =  |established_date = |coordinates = {{coord|38|09|N|122|34|W|region:US-CA|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = |footnotes = }} '''Olompali''' ([[Coast Miwok language|Coast Miwok]]:''Õlõmpõ'llï'';{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: Olómpali)<ref>Alfred Louis Kroeber, Samuel Alfred Barrett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kBlGAQAAMAAJ University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology`], ''Google.com'', 1908</ref> is a former [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] settlement in [[Marin County, California]].<ref name=gnis>{{gnis|1809036}}</ref> It was located {{convert|5|mi|km|sigfig=1}} south of [[Petaluma, California|Petaluma]].<ref name=gnis />

Its site now lies within the [[Olompali State Historic Park]].

==Geography== The site lies on the waterfront at the foot of Burdell Mountain.<ref name="baynature rooted">[https://baynature.org/article/rooted-in-history/ Rooted in History], ''Baynature.org'', 1 January 2003</ref>

==History== The name comes from the [[Coast Miwok]] language ''Olompais''{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} and likely means "southern village" or "southern people".<ref name="Reutinger">Reutinger, Joan. ''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19980201002108/http://coastalpost.com/97/9/13.htm Olompali Park Filled With History]}}'', The Coastal Post, Sept. 1997.</ref><ref name=Park>[http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=465 Olompali State Historic Site Website]</ref> The Coast Miwok had inhabited a site within the State Historic Park continuously from as early as [[6000 BC]].<ref name=Park /> Unlike other settlements in the Bay Area that required seasonal migrations for year-round feeding, the resources available around Olompali made the village occupied all year-round.<ref name="baynature rooted"/>

Olompali had been a main center in 1200, and might have been the largest native village in Marin County.<ref name="Reutinger" />

According to senior state archeologist E. Breck Parkman, a secret matriarchal society, the ''Máien'', existed among the Indigenous people of the Bay Area, including the Olompali people. Between 1816 and 1818, 10 Máien women from Olompali were baptized in the [[Mission San José (California)|Mission San Jose de Guadalupe]].<ref>E. Breck Parkman, [https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/files/the_maien_secret_california_indian_womens_society_on_san_francisco_bay.pdf The Máien: A Women’s Secret Society on San Francisco Bay], ''Parks.gov.ca'', 10 October 2006</ref> Records also show that between 1814 and 1822, 250 members of the Olompali settlement were baptized.<ref name="baynature rooted"/>

After California became part of the United States, its last-standing chief Ynitia (born Huemox) was able to maintain ownership over Olompali.<ref name="baynature rooted"/>

An article in the ''Marin Journal'' from March 1911 mentions that relics and remains of the Olompali people were still scattered all across the county. [[Mound]]s of shell and soil from their settlement have been leveled in 1874 and 1875, and used to fill land in Marin County.<ref>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MJ19110330.2.16 Olompali relics], ''Marin Journal'', 30 March 1911</ref>

==Bibliography== *Carlson, Pamela McGuire, and E. Breck Parkman, ''An Exceptional Adaptation: Camillo Ynitia, the Last Headman of the Olompalis'', California History 65 (4): 238–247, 309–310. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1986 *Charles M. Slaymaker, ''Cry for Olompali'', privately printed, 1972

==See also== *[[Rancho Olompali]] *[[:Category:Miwok villages|Miwok villages]]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Miwok villages]] [[Category:History of Marin County, California]] [[Category:Former settlements in Marin County, California]] [[Category:Former Native American populated places in California]]