In the mid-18th century the Spanish viceroy of the colony of New Spain (centered in present-day Mexico) decided to establish a string of Franciscan missions, military presidios (fortified settlements), and towns along the coast of present-day California, then known as Alta California (Upper California).
The fourth of these missions, Misión del Santo Arcángel San Gabriel del los Temblores (Mission of the Holy Archangel Saint Gabriel of the Earthquakes), was founded northeast of present-day downtown Los Angeles in 1771.
The Tongva people of the area came to be known as Gabrieliños, after the San Gabriel Mission.
On the 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land granted to the mission by the Spanish colonial government, the Franciscan fathers directed the work of about 1,000 Gabrieliños, who cultivated vineyards, orchards, and crops, tended cattle and other livestock, and processed leather, wool, and tallow for candles.
These activities were the foundation of Euro-American civilization in the region.
The colonists’ intentions were to “civilize” the local people, but instead the Native American population declined precipitously, devastated by disease and overwork under the harsh disciplinary regime of the Spanish settlers.
The cemetery at the San Gabriel Mission contains the remains of about 6,000 Gabrieliños.
In 1781, hoping to provide a better basis for European population growth in the Los Angeles area, Spanish colonial governor Felipe de Neve ordered the establishment of a town on the Los Angeles River, then called the Río Porciúncula.
In November of that year 46 impoverished settlers—recruited from Sinaloa, the poorest frontier province of northern Mexico—formally established El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula (the Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula).
From the very beginning, this was a multiracial community: Most of the 46 original settlers were of Native American or African descent, and one was Chinese. Few, if any, were of pure Spanish descent.
In 1797 the Spanish founded a second mission in the area, Misión San Fernando Rey De España (Mission of Saint Ferdinand, King of Spain), in the present-day San Fernando Valley.
The San Fernando Mission employed more than 1,000 Native Americans, who produced olives, wheat, dates, barley, wine, and wool. These goods were eagerly consumed by the settlers in and around El Pueblo de Los Angeles to the south.
Some of these settlers were rancheros, retired Spanish soldiers to whom the Spanish colonial government had granted ranchos, or large estates, in the region.
These ranchos, also dependent upon Native American labor, eventually became the basis of all private property development in Los Angeles.
In this way, the Spanish by 1800 had established a substantial colony in the Los Angeles area, largely sustained by the semi-enforced labor of the native Gabrieliños, and largely self-sufficient and isolated. This isolation was rocked by the success of the Mexican War of Independence in 1821.
The new Mexican government secularized the missions by turning mission lands over to the Native Americans.
The Native Americans, however, were quickly cheated out of the vast majority of their land by the rancheros and other non-Native Americans.
The fourth of these missions, Misión del Santo Arcángel San Gabriel del los Temblores (Mission of the Holy Archangel Saint Gabriel of the Earthquakes), was founded northeast of present-day downtown Los Angeles in 1771.
The Tongva people of the area came to be known as Gabrieliños, after the San Gabriel Mission.
On the 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land granted to the mission by the Spanish colonial government, the Franciscan fathers directed the work of about 1,000 Gabrieliños, who cultivated vineyards, orchards, and crops, tended cattle and other livestock, and processed leather, wool, and tallow for candles.
These activities were the foundation of Euro-American civilization in the region.
The colonists’ intentions were to “civilize” the local people, but instead the Native American population declined precipitously, devastated by disease and overwork under the harsh disciplinary regime of the Spanish settlers.
The cemetery at the San Gabriel Mission contains the remains of about 6,000 Gabrieliños.
In 1781, hoping to provide a better basis for European population growth in the Los Angeles area, Spanish colonial governor Felipe de Neve ordered the establishment of a town on the Los Angeles River, then called the Río Porciúncula.
In November of that year 46 impoverished settlers—recruited from Sinaloa, the poorest frontier province of northern Mexico—formally established El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula (the Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula).
From the very beginning, this was a multiracial community: Most of the 46 original settlers were of Native American or African descent, and one was Chinese. Few, if any, were of pure Spanish descent.
In 1797 the Spanish founded a second mission in the area, Misión San Fernando Rey De España (Mission of Saint Ferdinand, King of Spain), in the present-day San Fernando Valley.
The San Fernando Mission employed more than 1,000 Native Americans, who produced olives, wheat, dates, barley, wine, and wool. These goods were eagerly consumed by the settlers in and around El Pueblo de Los Angeles to the south.
Some of these settlers were rancheros, retired Spanish soldiers to whom the Spanish colonial government had granted ranchos, or large estates, in the region.
These ranchos, also dependent upon Native American labor, eventually became the basis of all private property development in Los Angeles.
In this way, the Spanish by 1800 had established a substantial colony in the Los Angeles area, largely sustained by the semi-enforced labor of the native Gabrieliños, and largely self-sufficient and isolated. This isolation was rocked by the success of the Mexican War of Independence in 1821.
The new Mexican government secularized the missions by turning mission lands over to the Native Americans.
The Native Americans, however, were quickly cheated out of the vast majority of their land by the rancheros and other non-Native Americans.
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