About this map · 1800s
Maps proclaim “This is here.”
We overlay a contemporary map with Indigenous settlement names, drawn from a variety of Native map sources, to show how richly populated the region was and how many cultures co-existed.
Rather than pinpointing locations, the map affirms the names of places that have been here.
LA County has one of the largest urban Native populations in the U.S. Local tribes are working for land justice and cultural thriving — we encourage you to engage with them directly.
SlidersIndigenous Map fades the place names. Old Ranchos overlays Gerald A. Eddy’s 1937 map of Spanish and Mexican land grants, which etched many names still used today.
Cartographic notesNames are written on the landscape, not pinned or bordered, to honor fluid territories. “Gabrieleño” and “Fernandeño” reflect today’s groups tied to the two missions that violently displaced and mixed peoples; “Chumash” follows linguistic ties. An asterisk (*) marks a village claimed by more than one group. We hope it helps imagine how we might decolonize the map.
Ancestral land of Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians · Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians · Gabrieleño Tongva Band of Mission Indians · Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians
CollaboratorsMatthew Vestuto (Barbareño/Ventureño) and his Chumash Placenames · Kimia Fatehi (Fernandeño Tataviam) · Samantha Morales-Johnson (Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Land Conservancy) · Phil Ethington and the LA Landscape History Project · Margaret Pearce
SourcesPamela Munro’s Tongva place names from J. P. Harrington’s papers · McCawley, The First Angelinos · McLendon & Johnson, “Cultural Affiliation and Lineal Descent of Chumash Peoples” · Tongva People · Eddy, “Old Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Los Angeles County” (1937) · Fernandeño land grants
Built by SLABScott Mahoy, Duo Bao, Temi Omotinugbon, Jiyoon Kim, Sihan Mao
Financial supportAmerican Council of Learned Societies · USC Provost · USC Price School · USC Lusk Center for Real Estate