A Brief History
On September 4, 1781, what is now the City of Los Angeles, California, was founded by four Spanish soldiers and 44 settlers, who called their new settlement El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles or perhaps El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles.
Digging Deeper
The founders of one of the great cities not only of the United States, but of the world, hailed from “New Spain,” what Mexico was called at the time. The province in which Los Angeles was founded was Las Californias, which today would be the State of California and Baja California.
After nearly three centuries of Spanish exploration and settlement of the New World, including establishing numerous forts, missions, and cities elsewhere, the time had come to found secular settlements in California. The settlers were a mixed bunch racially, with 22 adults ranging from ethnic Spanish, Native American, mixed Spanish/Native American, mixed Spanish/African and African, diversity that is reflected to this day.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Have you ever been to Los Angeles?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Fodor’s Travel Guides. Fodor’s Los Angeles: with Disneyland & Orange County. Fodor’s Travel, 2023.
Lord, Rosemary. Los Angeles Then and Now. Pavilion Books, 2018.
