Juana Maria

Juana Maria, born on San Nicolas Island, CA, better known to history as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, was a Native American woman who was the last surviving member of her tribe, the Nicoleño. She lived alone on San Nicolas Island off the coast of California from 1835 until her rescue in 1853. She died after getting dysentery. A children's book, "Island of the Blue Dolphins" was based on her.

Illustration of Nicoleño woman, Juana Maria, from James M. Gibbons's "The Wild Woman of San Nicolas Island", published in Californian Illustrated Magazine 4, no. 5 (October 1893)

A photograph of a Native American woman, believed to be Juana Maria. This photograph was found alongside a picture of Maria Sinforosa Ramona Sanchez, wife of George Nidever, with whom Maria had lived at the Santa Barbara Mission.