Mark Beach

Written by Anita Creamer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese-born explorer, claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769.

Very few people have had as much impact in shaping California as Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Vallejo was born in Monterey in 1807, when that city was the capital of Alta California in the Viceroy of New Spain. As a young man, Vallejo worked as a clerk for English merchant William Hartnell, learning English, French, and Latin. Vallejo was serving as personal secretary to the Governor of California, Luis Arguello in 1821, when news of Mexico’s independence from Spain reached Monterey. He then enrolled as a cadet at the Presidio of San Francisco.

California has rich history, and Hispanic/Latino culture has played a major role shaping the state. “ Alta California” was founded as a province of the Viceroy of New Spain in 1804, and subsequently became part of Mexico when that country declared its independence from Spain in 1821.