The Esselen are a Native American people belonging to a linguistic group in the hypothetical Hokan language family, who were indigenous in the Santa Lucia Mountains of the region now known as Big Sur in Monterey County, California. They lived seasonally on the coast and inland, surviving off the plentiful seafood during the summer and acorns and wildlife during the rest of the year. Experts estimate there were about 500 to 1200 individuals living in the steep, rocky region at the time of the arrival of the Spanish.