Ten thousand years ago, San Francisco Bay was a valley green and brown with hills and ancient rivers winding across it’s floor. Alcatraz was a rocky hilltop when the ocean ran through the Golden Gate, an island when waters filled the valley creating the great estuary. For millennia, Native Americans called the small island white with bird droppings, Rock Rainbow.
In 1775, soldiers and priests of the Spanish King sailed into the bay to colonize California naming the island, Isla de Alcatraces (Pelicans). In 1821, the Mexicans drove out the Spanish, then were driven out by the U.S. in 1846. By 1854, Alcatraz’s lighthouse guided sailors and illuminated it’s career as fortress, Civil War prison, prison for Native Americans, the Spanish American War and 20th century criminals.
In 1963, Alcatraz closed and lay abandoned for years. An 1868 treaty between the U.S. government and Native Americans agreed unused land formerly occupied by Native Americans belonged to them. In 1969, Native Americans moved to Alcatraz for 19 months, uniting tribes and gaining world support, before being expelled. In 1972, Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Seeing Alcatraz with reservations is a must!