The North Bay has a rich and unique history within California. Its environment, particularly its waterways, has shaped human culture and migration for thousands of years. In part one of this two-part lecture we will wade into the cultural significance of the North Bay waterways to the native peoples of the region. We will then navigate the use of these rivers as political boundaries between the Russians and the Spanish in the 1800s. Part two of the lecture series, “How Waterways Wrote Our History: The 1800s to Present,” takes place Saturday, July 14.