After nearly 200 years, the Tongva community has land in Los Angeles County that is still considered by the county as ancestral Indian territory.
The Tongva are a Native American tribe who live in northern Los Angeles County, near Los Angeles. They are about 20,000 people who speak at least 5 different languages and use many other traditions as well. There are about 45,000 enrolled members in the tribe.
Although the Tongva are only one of dozens of Native American tribes living in Los Angeles County, the Tongva are unique because they have an estimated historical population of almost 140,000.
Tongva residents in the Los Angeles County are known as a community that has made a commitment to protect their lands. After nearly 200 years of occupation, the Tongva have taken their community and their land to be one of the last remaining Native American communities on Earth.
The Tongva have worked hard to protect the land they have occupied for generations. They have been fighting government policies that would encroach on their territory. The Tongva have fought for over 10 years to preserve their land.
According to the Tongva Tribal Council, their territory is about 20,000 acres of land, with about a half mile of the shoreline within the community of Lake Elsinore. In the Tongva language, it is known as “Atanahahin,” which means “the place of the mountains.”
The Tongva began living on the land in the early 1900s. According to the Tongva, the first resident on their land and within the city of Los Angeles was Chief Wintan. His ancestors were from the Tongva tribe in the northern portion of the Tongva territory. Chief Wintan’s father, who was also a chief, named the village Wintanatlah.
The land along the coast of Lake Elsinore was first claimed by the Tongva in 1851. It wasn’t until 1907 that the first permanent Tongva reservation was established, known as the Kachis. According to a survey