The Kawaiisu Nation (pronounced: "ka-wai-ah-soo" [needs IPA]) are a tribe of indigenous people of California in the United States. The Kawaiisu Nation is the only treatied tribe in California, Ratified Treaty (No. 256), 9 Stat. 984, Dec. 30, 1849.

The name Kawaiisu is taken from the language of the Yokuts, a Native American tribe of the San Joaquin Valley. The Kawaiisu referred to themselves as the Nuwa (new-wa) or The People. Occupying a definable territory and spending their winters in a particular village, the Kawaiisu were an autonomous political and ritual group.

Learn about tribal education, tribal art, and the history of the Kawaiisu tribe on our website.

Kawaiisu is a member of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Within Numic, it is most closely related to Chemehuevi -Southern Paiute-Ute, spoken in southeastern California and throughout Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona.

Kawaiisu women and older girls wore a two-piece skirt, one part hanging in front and the other behind, fastened around the waist. The skirt was usually made of deerskin. Men wore a piece of deerskin around their hips.

The Kawaiisu Language & Cultural Center works to revitalize Kawaiisu language and culture. The Kawaiisu – a small band of about 200 people indigenous to the remote and rural Tehachapi and Paiute Mountain areas of Kern County – have just five living, fluent speakers of …

Known as Kawaiisu by neighboring tribes, they are of Shoshonean stock and speak a version of Uto-Aztecan language. Anthropologists believe they migrated into this area from the Great Basin between 1500 and 3000 years ago.

5 days ago · Nestled atop a ridge in the Tehachapi Mountains, overlooking Sand Canyon to the east and the Tehachapi valley to the west, Tomo-Kahni, or "Winter Village," was the site of a Kawaiisu (Nuwa) village. The location was likely chosen for …

Kawaiisu is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together. Kawaiisu has a typical Numic vowel inventory of six vowels.

The Kawaiisu were of Shoshonean lineage who spoke the Southern Numic subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan language. Migrating from the Great Basin, they had made the Tehachapi area their home for two to three thousand years. They were a peaceful, gentle people with a great respect for their surroundings, living and working in small family units.