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  • History
    • Hugo Reid's Letters
    • Timeline
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    • Map
    • Tongva Art and Cultural Sites
  • Media
    • Photo Gallery
    • Instagram
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Tongva History

9000 BCE: Earliest dated evidence for Los Angeles Basin occupation
2500 BCE: First Tongva arrivals out of the Great Basin area of southern Oregon and Nevada. A 4500 year history in California begins.
1200 CE: Peak of culture and territorial expansion
1542: Spanish arrive in Catalina and San Pedro harbor area (Cabrillo).
1602: Spain returns to Catalina and coastal sites (Vizcaino).
1769: Gaspar de Portola enters Tongva territory. European diseases have already begun decimating the population. Conflicts begin.
1771: Mission San Gabriel is founded at Isankanga and begins the process of "conversion". Conflict with local Tongva forces the church to move to present location at the village of Sibangna (1775-1776). Tongva name changed to "Gabrieleno" (an umbrella term imposed by the Spanish on the native population of the area, who hailed from multiple tribes, including Tongva) and the missionization process begins. Non-converts integrate into social and economic life, but not religious life.
1773: First revolt against San Gabriel mission
1776: De Anza expedition comes through Tongva territory
1778: Mass conversions take place as some chiefs are "converted".
1779: Conflicts between church and military officials rage over who has the authority over "Indian labor". Second revolt against San Gabriel Mission.
1780: Nuestra Señora La Reyna de Los Angeles de la Portiuncula founded at Yangna.
1785: On October 15, after a series of protests, Tongva resistance peaks with the revolt of Toypurina, a chief's daughter and shaman. The revolt is quashed; Toypurina is exiled to Monterey, baptized, and married to a Spanish soldier. She dies at San Juan Bautista and lies buried in an unmarked grave.
1786: Most "Gabrielenos" become a peasant class working for missions or the landed gentry. Apartheid policy dominates church-state relationships with the Gabrieleno.
1787: Revolts in surrounding areas terrify church and state officials. Spanish hold control on a 20-mile radius around Los Angeles (Yangna).
1796: Gabrielenos become the major labor force in Pueblo de Los Angeles and for the outlying ranches and farms.
1800: Most Gabrieleno are either missionized, dead, or have flex to other areas and are intermarried with Kokoémkam (Serrano), Achjachemen (Juaneño), Cupa, or Kumitaraxam (Cahuilla) families. Some flee as far as Monterey.
1800-1833: Missions grow and ranches have expanded. Most Gabrieleno are either in slave labor or in peasant class. Many are fugitive runaways. Church and state send armed raids to capture escaped "converts" and also those who are not yet "converted". Diseases continue to spread.
1823: The last mission, San Francisco Solano, is founded; San Diego is in decline.
1833: Missions are secularized after Mexico gains independence from Spain. Most Gabrielenos become laborers for the New Mexican rancheros. Many Gabrieleno families are now scattered from Monterey to San Diego; some are living with groups in the remote interior.
1833-1848: Mexican control of California
1840-1850: Gabrieleno-Tongva language still in use. Some rituals and games, traditional crafts still maintained. Tongva is used by both Europeans and Indians. Smallpox epidemics decimate all tribal peoples in the area. California becomes a state; Indians barred from any political participation. By the late 1840s the last Tongva towns are destroyed.
1852: Hugo Reid publishes Indians of Los Angeles County. He marries Victoria Comicrabit, Tongva from Comicrangna. She is buried in an unmarked grave at San Gabriel Mission and is an ancestor of the present chief.
1853: Juana Maria (The Lone Woman of San Nicolas) is taken to Santa Barbara; she dies a few months later.
1869-1900: Smallpox epidemics continue to kill Gabrieleno. Isolated families manage to survive and maintain traditions.
1903: C. Hart Merriam and A.L. Kroeber begin their study of the Gabrieleno. They are in turn followed by Constance DuBois and J.P. Harrington.
1925: Harrington records songs and culture of the Tongva at Pala Indian Reservation.
1933: Helen H. Roberts publishes Form in Primitive Music, which focuses on Gabrieleno music and songs.
1940s: Tongva cheifdom continues from Chief Salvador; San Gabriel (SIbangna) maintains the center of surviving Tongva culture.
1994: Both the City of San Gabriel and California Legislature pass resolutions recognizing the "Gabrieleno-Tongva Nation" as the indigenous peoples of the Los Angeles Basin with a continuous unbroken history. Ti'at Society founded.
1995: On February 6, Fred "Sparky" Morales, Chief of the Tongva, dies; his son, Anthony, assumes the chiefdom. In November, the Tongva Nation Dancers are founded.
1999: September 25: The Gabrieleno-Tongva reconstruct a display section of the village of Chokiishnga for Heritage Park in the city of Santa Fe Springs. November 14: The Gabrieleno join with the city of San Gabriel on the expansion of Smith Park in honor of the village site of Sibangna. Other developments in 1999 include the opening of the Haramonkngna Interpretive Center at Red Box in the San Gabriel Mountains, continuation with the discussions with Hahamongna (La Cañada-Flintridge), and the opening of the "Ememot Tahrahhat Kekeesh" Tongva Youth Center in El Monte.
2000: Possible interpretive center discussions at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont. Mt. Baldy (Joatngna) project begins.
2001: Cal Poly Pomona begins early talks on a Tongva interpretive garden.
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