Tongva

The Tongva are an Indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, whose Takic speech belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family. Before colonization they lived in villages and identified themselves by village rather than by a tribal name. They built sewn-plank boats called te'aat and ran a trade network stretching from the Channel Islands to the Colorado River.

Sustained contact began with the Portolá expedition of 1769; Mission San Gabriel was founded in their territory in 1771 and Mission San Fernando in 1797, after which the Spanish called them Gabrieleño and Fernandeño.

Forced resettlement, forced labour and epidemics shattered their society, and an uprising in 1785 led by Nicolás José and the woman chief Toypurina was crushed. After Mexican independence in 1821 the missions were secularized and their lands turned into ranchos, leaving most Tongva landless refugees.