As you explore Channel Islands National Park, imagine what it was like to live on an island or cross the channel in a boat fifty years ago, one hundred years ago, and even ten thousand years ago. Archeologists believe that humans may have inhabited the Channel Islands for up to 13,000 years, millennia before Europeans set foot on their shores in the 16th century. Through their long histories, the Channel Islands have been host to Chumash and Tongva peoples, explorers and traders, prisoners and smugglers, ranchers and vaqueros, shipwreck victims and Coast Guard personnel. Follow the links at the top of this page to discover some of their stories about life on the Channel Islands.