The Karkin people have historically lived in the Carquinez Strait region in the northeast portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary.

'[4][5] Although meager, the records of Karkin show that it constituted a distinct branch of Costanoan/Ohlone, strikingly different from the neighboring Chochenyo and other Ohlone languages spoken farther south and across the bay.

[6] Starting in 1787, some Karkin people began moving to Mission Dolores in present-day San Francisco.

[11] In 1925, Alfred Kroeber, then director of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, declared the Ohlone extinct, which directly led to its losing federal recognition and land rights.

[13] Corrina Gould is a Karkin and Chochenyo activist who co-founded Indian People Organizing for Change and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust,[14] and is the spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan.