The saga of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, as recorded in his own narratives, serves as one of the most fascinating chronicles of European exploration in North America and offers one of the earliest and most detailed European perspectives on indigenous life and landscapes in the 16th century.

In the last 130 years, millions of Mexican nationals have crossed the southern border into the United States. The one crucial ingredient linking all these immigrants from every corner of Mexico was their use of the Mexican railway systems. By 1900, Mexico‘s principal railroads were completed and connected to the major American railways lines along the border.

“The Indians of Southern California’s Interior” will explore the Native American people that inhabited Southern California’s mountains and deserts. While the Spanish mission system dominated the coastal area, the interior of California was settled more slowly and the conquest of these inland Indians took more time. Today, nearly three dozen Indian reservations lie within this area. The region from San Diego to San Bernardino counties will be discussed.

For hundreds of years, the lowlands of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas were occupied by hundreds of small, autonomous Indian groups that lived by hunting and gathering. We call these Indians Coahuiltecans to denote the broader geographic range they shared. They spoke many languages, some of which were not believed to be related. As such, Coahuiltecan is not an ethnic classification.

More missions were established among the Chumash than among any other Native American group in California. Five missions were founded in Chumash territory: San Luis Obispo (1772), San Buenaventura (1782), Santa Bárbara (1786), La Purísima Concepción (1787) and Santa Ynez (1804). The Indians of this area were described by the Spaniards as gentle, hospitable to strangers, lively, industrious, skillful and clever.

This presentation explores the Chumash tribes that inhabited the coastal region of the Santa Barbara area when the Spaniards arrived there in 1769. Speaking eight distinct languages – most of which were mutually unintelligible – the Chumash lived and thrived in an area where five Catholic missions were founded between 1772 and 1804. Their history, customs and present status with regards to federal recognition will be explored.

This presentation will discuss the settlement and evolution of the Nuevo Santander Colony along the Rio Grande. José de Escandón’s Villas del Norte– established in the mid- Eighteenth Century – appeared like a string of pearls along the Lower Rio Grande River, where Spain was reinforcing the distant frontier of its American empire.

It is believed that as many as 300,000 American Indians spoke at least 80 distinct languages in California at the time of the Spanish arrival. The map on this page shows the California tribal groups at the time of the Spanish arrival in the Eighteenth Century.

This presentation will discuss the ECPP database, with suggestions on how to use it. To the beginner, this database -- with dozens of search fields -- seems challenging and confusing, but John Schmal will describe how to use it effectively, and after that will do selected searches to show examples of baptism and marriage documents of California Mission Indians and of Mexican soldiers and their families.

Learn to trace your indigenous roots in northeastern Mexico and south Texas. Historian, genealogist, and author John P. Schmal will discuss the various tribal groups inhabiting this region; research techniques for finding your ancestors in this area; and helpful websites.

This presentation discusses the native groups that occupied the regions adjacent to and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border over the last three centuries. While some of these tribes are well-known to us today (i.e., the Yaquis, Tohono O'odham, Kumeyaay, etc.), tribal groups that have nearly disappeared as distinguishable cultural entities (i.e., Carrizos, Mansos, Jocome, Coahuiltecans, etc.) will also be discussed. In addition to the history of those tribes, we will explore the current status of some of the tribal communities that still exist today.

This presentation explores the original settlement of the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley, including the Expedition of 1781 and the establishment of the San Gabriel Mission (1771) and the San Fernando Mission (1797). The lecture also includes a discussion of the original indigenous inhabitants who lived near the Spanish missions. The presentation will discuss how the San Fernando evolved through occupation by three powers (Spain, Mexico and the U.S.).

This presentation explores the Native American people that inhabited Southern California in the 18th Century. The region from San Diego to Santa Barbara will be discussed. The current status of these tribes in the present day will also be discussed.

The American state of Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas share a long border along the Rio Grande River. For thousands of years, Native American tribes either lived along this river or passed over it on their way south (or north). This boundary was finalized in 1848, but a century earlier, much of the Rio Grande River area was being settled by Spanish and Mexican settlers who had come from other parts of Mexico to settle the lands that were already inhabited by many tribal groups.

Cesar Chavez was an American hero, a person who was admired by both his supporters and his adversaries. In grammar school, many students learn about his advocacy and dedication to his causes, but few people know much about his roots. Nearly everyone knows that Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 near Yuma, Arizona. The Arizona State Board of Health Certificate of Birth Number 594 states that Cesario Chavez was the legitimate son of Librado Chavez (38 years old, a farmer born in Mexico) and Juana Estrada (35 years old, a housewife also born in Mexico). His birthplace was listed as “North Gila Valley” in Yuma County. A copy of that birth record has been reproduced below [Arizona Department of Health Services, “Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates: Index.” Online: http://genealogy.az.gov/].

This presentation discusses the native groups that occupied the regions adjacent to and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border over the last three centuries. While some of these tribes are well-known to us today (i.e., the Yaquis, Tohono O'odham, Kumeyaay, Cocopah, etc.), tribal groups that have disappeared as distinguishable cultural entities (i.e., Carrizos, Mansos, Jocome, Coahuiltecans, etc.) will also be discussed. In addition to the history of those tribes, we will explore the current status of the tribal communities that still exist today.

Has your family lived in Los Angeles for many generations? Do you have any of the following surnames: Verdugo, Sepulveda, Avila, Rosas, Higuera, Lugo, Domínguez, Serrano, Olivas, Ybarra, Palomares, Rodríguez, Reyes, Romero, Valenzuela, Pico or Feliz? Or did you or your family come from the states of Sinaloa or Sonora?

The raw materials of Spain’s settlement of California were Mexican soldiers. These soldiers were men who left behind their parents and siblings in Sinaloa and Sonora to serve on the northern outskirts of Spain’s empire during the 1770s and 1780s. One family that contributed several soldiers to Spain’s colonial effort was the Féliz family of Álamos, Sonora.

This presentation explores the original Spanish settlement of Southern California in the late 18th Century, as well as the large number of indigenous communities that existed in the area. Of special interest will be the Expedition of 1781 from Álamos, Sonora, which led to the establishment of Los Angeles, San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara.

On September 4, 1781, 44 pobladores (settlers) arrived at a location 9 miles west of the San Gabriel Mission to establish California’s second pueblo: El Pueblo de Nuestro Señora la Reina de Los Angles del Río de Porciúncula or The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angeles by the River of Porciúncula. Later, the name was shortened to Los Angeles. When the 44 settlers arrived in Los Angeles, they and their families settled a short distance from a Kizh Nation village called Yang-na (now referred to as Yaanga) — now near the intersection of Alameda and Commercial Streets (south of the 101) — where 300 natives already lived.