Los Angeles City Map Poster

About Los Angeles

The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. A Gabrielino settlement in the area was called "Iyáangẚ" (written Yang-na by the Spanish), meaning "poison oak place". The first interaction with Europeans occurred in 1542, when Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed at Point Mugu and claimed California for Spain. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed construction of a mission on this site; it was named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula"; commonly known as ""El Pueblo"" ("The Town").