Today, Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States in size and population (over 12 million people in the metro area). Los Angeles was once home to thousands of people before the Spanish settlers arrived. The Gabrieliño-Tongva people were the first inhabitants of the land we now call Los Angeles. The movements of these peoples set the stage for what would eventually become Los Angeles. News writer Ann Lloyd writes in “A Brief History of LA's Indigenous Tongva People.”

Photo: Gabrieliño-Tongva Indian Tribe

Their influence on the eventual metropolis of Los Angeles extends far beyond their choice of location, though; the forced labor and enslavement of Tongva peoples is what allowed Spanish settlers and missionaries to develop their reach in the first place. When the Spanish arrived in Southern California, they sought fertile land to produce the crops they were hoping to cultivate. This led them to the bountiful San Gabriel Valley (the San Gabriel Mission is credited as the first location of Spanish settlers in the area that became Los Angeles).

SSSP 2022 meetings will take place in the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles. Downtown L.A. was originally the location of Yaanga, a large Tongva village. This part of the Tongva land was far enough from the San Gabriel Valley that it allowed the settlers to exploit the Tongva people for manual labor. The center of this village is now the location of the historic Union Station.

The discovery of gold on the California lands led to greater migration of Anglo-Americans to the West Coast. Many of the Tongva peoples were enslaved and used as a source of labor before the immigration of Chinese people as another source of labor. California’s eventual ascension to statehood led to the disregard of many of the peaceful treaties previously in place. This led to the displacement of many of the indigenous people, leaving most of them homeless. Today, the Gabrieliño-Tongva Tribe is one of two state recognized tribes. Approximately 2,500 people in the region today identify as members of the Tongva Tribe.