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The Maidu are a group of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. They lived in the central Sierra Nevada, in the drainage area of the Feather and American Rivers.
The Maidu were hunters and gatherers. They lived in small villages with no centralized political organization.
Their mythology revolved around stories of the trickster Coyote. Maidu Coyote tales are exceptionally funny and very bawdy.
The Maidu were divided into three groups, the Nishinam or Southern Maidu, the Northeastern Maidu, and the Northwestern Maidu.
The Southern Maidu occupied the whole of the American, Bear and Yuba river drainages.
The Northeastern Maidu lived on the upper North and Middle forks of the Feather River.
The Northwestern Maidu were below the high Sierra, in the South, Middle, North and West branches of the Feather River, on the Upper Butte and Chico Creeks, and in the Sacremento Valley along the lower course of those streams.
Kroeber estimated that there were 9,000 Maidu about the year 1770. The Census of 1910 counted 1,100, and the 1930 Census only 93.
The term Maidu means person.
The Maidu spoke a Penutian language.
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