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Introduction to this year's Camp Internet
Off the coast of southern California lay eight mysterious islands - many
with-in view of the shoreline, yet most shrouded in a mist of relatively
unknown history, remote wildlife, and sparse human habitation. The Pacific
Ocean that lies between this
archipelago and the mainland is a channel of sea that has witnessed
the entire history of North America. From prehistoric mammoths
to the first human migrations across the Bering Straits, from early
California ranchos to innovative high tech industry, the Channel offers
us an intriguing glimpse across thousands of years of time. In fact one
of the birth places of Internet technology was beside a lagoon overlooking
the Channel.
To understand the Channel Islands, it is important to grasp the history
of their region, including activities on the mainland that directly influenced
life on the islands. Even before the Europeans arrived, trade routes were
well established between the islands, linking them to the mainland. The
Channel itself provided the thorough fare linking the original different
tribal groups scattered across the islands and the mainland. Several of
the Channel Islands were once home to thousands of Native Americans who
developed unique material cultures, spiritual practices, and organized
government over thousands of year of habitation. The comparatively short
length of historical European occupation of the islands and mainland is
a brief 200 year span of history in comparison to the thousands of years
native peoples have lived along the Channel. How these different cultures
have lived along the Channel, the foods they have eaten, the homes they
have built, is a part of the puzzle in putting together a clear picture
of the Channel Island’s history.
The Channel is a rich natural resource of marine life, island flora and
fauna, with the remembrance of historic cattle ranches on the islands,
native American villages along the shorelines, and the inevitable conflicts
of the Euro-American / Native confrontation that began over two hundred
years ago. All together, these separate studies of science, history, culture,
politics and human communication weave the picture of the Channel’s story,
and its influence on the island’s past, and their destiny.
Now, let’s get started by looking into the History Expedition Classroom
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