Tongva

The Tongva are a Native American people of Southern California, also historically known as the Gabrielino or Gabrieleño. They refer to themselves as Tongva, a name used by researchers to designate the various village groups within a shared language and culture. Before Euro-American contact, their territory covered the Los Angeles Basin and nearby coastal and inland areas, extending into the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains, the San Fernando Valley, and parts of the Channel Islands. They organized into many independent villages joined by social and ceremonial ties and engaged in regional trade networks.

Their economy combined gathering, farming of acorns, seeds, and seasonal plants, with fishing, shellfish collecting, and hunting marine mammals along the coast. The Tongva spoke a language of the Uto-Aztecan family, in the Takic subgroup, commonly referred to as Tongva or Gabrielino. The language is endangered; revitalization efforts by Tongva descendants and communities have produced language classes and documentation.

Spanish colonization beginning in 1769 brought missionization and the establishment of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel which administered much of Tongva territory. The mission system, along with disease, violence, and land dispossession, caused dramatic population decline and disruption of traditional lifeways. After Mexican secularization in the 1830s, lands were redistributed, accelerating displacement and assimilation pressures.

Today, Tongva descendants are represented by multiple community organizations and cultural groups in Southern California. They continue efforts to preserve language, history, and cultural practices, and participate in regional cultural and educational initiatives to raise awareness of their heritage.