Chapter 3 - Historical Setttlement

Some of the earliest tribes to settle the Los Angeles Basin were the Tongva & the Chumash.

       Tongva

• We know that the Tongva people had been here for close to 7000 years. 
• Their home range covered close to 4000 square miles.  
• They were known to be one of the wealthiest tribe in California. 
• The entire tribe was made up of nearly 5000 people. 

       Chumash

• Territory once covered close to 7000 square miles
• Hunter gatherers
• Known as the finest boat builders among California area Natives
  

Both of these tribes were largely wiped out by the introduction of European diseases when the Spanish brought came through bringing with them their missions.

As with other tribes of Native American tribe small pox had a devastating effect on these people. It is estimated that European diseases accounted for approximately one third of the deaths of the California tribes.

In 1769 Portola & missionary Crespi reached what is now Los Angeles. In 1771 friar Junipero Serra brought the first Mission to the area. By 1781 fourty four settlers known as Los Pobladores made up of eleven families settled in the area and began calling it "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula" which translates to "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angeles of the Porciuncula River". The Porciuncula now known as the Los Angeles River. 

Sources
A Brief History of the Tongva Tribe by Rosanne Welch
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians
Chumash Maritime Assiciation
California Mission Resource Center
City of Los Angeles