For over 7,000 years, the Tongva had settled the Los Angeles-Orange County basin and developed a complex society of fiercely independent towns and villages with democratic governments, sophisticated arts, and rich spiritual traditions.
Their lives centered about the concept that all life is one: human, animal, plant, the spirit world, and even the world of stone and mineral. They felt a responsibility to and for the world about them. They hunted and fished carefully. They harvested foods from the land and the sea aware of the delicate balance of humans, animals, and plants. They shared with all who visited or passed through their rich world.
Yet within a single lifetime, all would be changed forever, and almost all would be gone.
In 1542 came Cabrillo and in 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino. While they passed through without settling, seeds of new diseases began to spread. In 1769 the Spaniards returned. In 1771 San Gabriel Mission was established on the site of Sibangna and an era of captive forced labor began. Tongva customs, clothing, food, language, and spiritual values would be swept aside in forced conversions.
Seven revolts from 1771 to the 1830's shook the land but all were put down with European ferocity. The most famous revolt was that of 1785 under the leadership of Toypurina, a spiritual leader and daughter of a chief.
Disease decimated the people. Measles, influenza, tuberculosis, syphilis, and dysentery were all part of the tragedy that struck the Tongva. The traditional custom of bathing twice a day was stopped by the Church and the dietary practices were altered from the old foods to a starchy mush.
With Mexico's independence from Spain (1823-1824), Mission lands were transformed into Mexican ranches and the Tongva were kept on as free labor without rights or liberties.
The change to American California in 1850 did nothing to improve the lives of the Tongva who were looked on as "trespassers" on their own lands.
The great rivers were dammed and altered, and the forests cut down. The herds and flocks of wild life have disappeared. Under the massive city of Los Angeles and its suburbs the world of the Tongva lies buried. Old footpaths and trade trails now are congested freeways. Only a few placenames remain.
But like their folk-hero Coyote, the Tongva survived. Like wild flowers blooming where least expected and under harsh conditions they have emerged in the later half of the 20th century as a living people with a rich culture that is part of California's heritage.
The music and songs are still heard. The language is spoken, hesitantly and slowly, but it is heard. Tongva women gather plant materials and weave their baskets. Festivals and dance gatherings are held. Storytellers, spiritual guides, and elders beam with pride.
The children of the Tongva dance and sing again.
A Basic Bibliography on The Tongva and Their Neighbors
Balls, Edward Early Uses of California Plants Berkeley Univ. Press
Barrows, David P. Ethno-Botany of the Coahuilla Indians. Maiki Museum Press
Bean, Lowell. California Indian Shamanism. Ballena Press
Bean, Lowell. The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California. Maiki Museum Press
Bean, Lowell and Katherine Saubel Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage
of Plants. Maiki Museum Press
Brown, Vinson. Native Americans of the Pacific Coast. Naturegraph
Cunningham, R. California Indian Watercraft. EZ Nature Books
Dubois, C, The Religion of the Luiseno Indians of Southern California. Berkeley Univ.
Press
Eargle, Dolan. California Indian Country. Trees Company Press
Eargle, Dolan. The Earth is our Mother. Trees Company Press
Emanuels, George. California Indians. Kings River Press
Emert, Phyllis R. ed. The Missions of California. Discovery Enterprises, Ltd.
Faber, Gail. Whispers From the First Califomians. Magpie Publications
Forbes, Jack. Native Americans of California and Nevada. Naturegraph
Galloway, Anne. Tovangar (World) A Gabrielino Word Book. Maiki Museum Press
Gibson, R. The Chumash. Chelsea House
Gifford, Edward. California Indian Nights. Bison Books
Grant, Campbell The Rock Paintings of the Chumash. Santa Barbara Museum
Heizer, Robert The Destruction of California Indians. Univ.of Nebraska Press
Heizer, Robert. The Natural World of the California Indians. Univ, of Calif. Press
Hinton, Leanne. Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages. Heyday Books
Hurtado, A. Indian Survival on the California Frontier Yale Univ. Press
Jackson, Robert and Edward Castillo Indians. Franciscans, and Spanish ColonizationThe
Impact of the Mission System on California Indians University of New Mexico Press
Johnston, Bemice California's Gabrielino Indians Southwest Museum
Johnston, F. The Serrano Indians of Southern California. Maiki Museum Press
Keyworth, C. L. California Indians. Facts On File
Kroeber, A. L. Handbook of the Indians of California. Dover Publications
Kroeber, A. L. Notes on Shoshonean Dialects of Southern California. Berkeley Univ.
Press
Kroeber, A. L.Phoenetic Constituents of the Native Languages of California. Berkeley
Univ.Press
Kroeber, A. L. Phoenetic Elements of the Digueno Language. Berkeley Univ.Press
Kroeber, A. L. Shoshonean Dialects of California. Berkeley Univ. Press
Lee, Gerorgia The Chumash Cosmos. Bear Flag Books
Margolin, M. The Way We Lived. Heyday Books
Miller, Bruce. Chumash: A Picture of Their World. Sand River Press
Miller, Bruce. The Gabrielino. Sand River Press
McCawley, William The First Angelinos : The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angele Ballena
Press
Preble, Donna Yamino Kwiti Heyday Books
Powers, Bob Indian Country of the Tubatulabal Arthur H. dark Co.
Rawls, James. Indians of California Univ.of Oklahoma Press
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History California's Chumash Indians Education
Center
Robisnson, W. W. Land in California. Univ. of California Press
Sparkman, P. The Culture of the Luiseno Indians. Berkeley Univ. Press
Swanton, J. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian
Thomson, Mary L. The Gabrielinos Self publication
Thomton, R. American Indian Holocaust and Survival. Univ. of Oklahoma Press
Walker, P. Chumash Healing. Maiki Museum Press
