Cahuilla (Kawiya)

A people

Monzogranite walls and Joshua trees ringing the Hidden Valley loop in Joshua Tree National Park.
Photo by Joshua Tree National Park / NPS · public domain · Public Domain

Background

Joshua Tree National Park lists 15 federally recognized tribal governments for that country, and seven of those names carry the word Cahuilla. Eight carry it once the Cabazon Band is counted under the name the Bureau now uses, so the park's relationship with the Cahuilla people runs through eight governments rather than through one. Its account of the land the park manages names parts of the traditional homelands of the Kawiya, the Cahuilla. The Cahuilla are one of four peoples whose country reaches into that park, alongside the Maara’yam and the Nüwü, with the Aha Macave named there for its traditional use area.

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Parks on its homelands

Monzogranite walls and Joshua trees ringing the Hidden Valley loop in Joshua Tree National Park.Joshua Tree National Park

The Kawiya (Cahuilla) homeland includes the land Joshua Tree National Park manages. NPS names the Kawiya alongside the Maara'yam and the Nüwü as the peoples whose traditional homelands it holds. Source

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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