Though the Vanyume were closely related to the neighboring Serrano people linguistically and culturally, the two groups were politically distinct prior to European contact.[3] Because all documented Vanyume villages had been abandoned prior to the development of modern ethnographic fieldwork, ethnographic information on the Vanyume is limited.[2]
The first European to mention the Vanyume, Father Francisco Garcés, referred to the group using the MohaveexonymBeñemé. Vanyumé, a variation of the term, was later adopted by ethnographer Alfred Louis Kroeber.[2]
A. L. Kroeber described the Vanyume population as "very small" at the time of European contact. A 2017 analysis found that the group could have comprised as many as 700 people at the time of contact.[2]
Beginning in 1790, a number of Vanyume people were baptized at Mission San Fernando and Mission San Gabriel. The period between 1811 and 1814 saw the most rapid missionization, a process likely aided through military intimidation. A 1811 effort may have attempted to forcefully round up and relocate the Vanyume and Serrano.
Compared to their upriver counterparts, Vanyume villages on the lower Mojave river enjoyed relative freedom from Spanish influence and missionization.
In late 1810s, a number of Vanyume settlements were depopulated and their residents killed by warring Spanish and Mohave people.[2]
Indigenous Californians interviewed by ethnographers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries describe incidents of trade-related violence with the Mohave as a key factor in the decline and dispersion of Vanyume populations. These conflicts likely occurred around the 1830s.[5]
A number of living individuals are of Vanyume ancestry.[2][6]
