Riverside County City Map Poster

About Riverside County

The indigenous peoples of what is now Riverside County are the Luiseño, Cupeño and Cahuilla Indians. The Luiseños lived in the Aguanga and Temecula Basins, Elsinore Trough and eastern Santa Ana Mountains and southward into San Diego County. The Cahullia lived to the east and north of the Luiseño in the inland valleys, including west of Lake Elsinore. The first European settlement in present-day Riverside County was a Mission San Luis Rey de Francia estancia or farm, at its founding in 1798 by Gaspar de Portolà (1744–1810). In 1819 Mexico won its independence from Spain; however it did not recognize California as an independent republic until 1848 when American settlers forced out Mexican residents after a series of battles that began on January 8 at today's Rancho Cañada de los Vaqueros near Tehachapi Pass between Californios led by Andrés Pico (brother to governor Pío Pico)and Americans led by Stephen W.