Following the arrival of Europeans in California , disease and violence reduced the population to as low as 25,000 . During and after the California Gold Rush , it is estimated that miners and others killed about 4,500 Indigenous people of California between 1849 and 1870 . As of 2005 , California is the state with the largest self-identified Native American population according to the U.S. Census at 696,600
violence
California Genocide
Population of Native California