Settlements Established in 1781 - Los Angeles, Mackinac Island, Montpelier, Vermont, Paramount, California, Arnold, Pennsylvania, Pineville (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 113. Not illustrated. Chapters: Los Angeles, Mackinac Island, Montpelier, Vermont, Paramount, California, Arnold, Pennsylvania, Pineville, Kentucky, Greensboro, Pennsylvania, Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania, Pueblo de Los Angeles, Niagara-On-The-Lake, Istra, Ranchos, Buenos Aires. Excerpt: Los Angeles - The old city plaza, 1869The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrielenos) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 in an expedition organized by the viceroy of New Spain and commanded by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese-born explorer who claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire. However, he continued with his voyage up the coast and did not establish a settlement. The next contact would not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portola, along with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. Crespi noted that the site had the potential to be developed into a large settlement. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junipero Serra built the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near Whittier Narrows, in what is now called San Gabriel Valley. In 1777, the new governor of California, Felipe de Neve, recommended to Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua, viceroy of New Spain, that the site noted by Juan Crespi be developed into a pueblo. The town was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores." Tradition has it that on this day they were escorted by four Spanish colonial soldiers, two priests from the Mission and Governor de Neve. The town was named El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the Porciuncula River). These pueblo settlers came from the common Hispanic cult...