Tongva
|
Gabrieleno Native American women |
Tongva may also refer to the Tongva language.The
Tongva are a
Native American people who inhabited the area in and around
Los Angeles, California before the arrival of
Europeans.
Tongva means "people of the earth" in the
Tongva language, a language in the
Uto-Aztecan family. The Tongva are also sometimes referred to as the
Gabrieleno/Tongva or
Gabrielino/Tongva tribe. Following the Spanish custom of naming local tribes after nearby missions, they were called the
Gabrieleño,
Gabrielino, or
San Gabrieleño in reference to
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel. Likewise, the nearby
Tataviam people were known as "Fernandeño" after
Mission San Fernando Rey de España.
Along with the
Chumash, their neighbors to the north, the Tongva are among the few New World peoples who regularly navigated the ocean. They built seaworthy canoes, called
ti'at, using planks that were sewn together, edge to edge, and then caulked and coated with either pine
pitch, or, more commonly, the tar that was available either from the
La Brea Tar Pits, or as
asphaltum that had washed up on shore from offshore oil seeps. These
titi'at could hold as many as 12 people and all their gear and all the trade goods they were carrying to trade with other people, either along the coast or on one of the
Channel Islands. The Tongva canoed out to greet Spanish explorer
Juan Cabrillo when he arrived off the shores of
San Pedro in 1542.
Modern
place-names with Tongva origins include:
Pacoima,
Tujunga,
Topanga,
Rancho Cucamonga,
Azusa, and
Cahuenga Pass.
The name of their
creation deity,
Quaoar, has been used to name a
large object in the
Kuiper belt. A 2,656-foot summit in the
Verdugo Mountains, in
Glendale, has been named
Tongva Peak. The
Gabrielino Trail is a 32-mile path through the
Angeles National Forest.
In the 1990s,
Kuruvungna Springs, a natural spring located on the site of a former Tongva village on the campus of
University High School in West Los Angeles, was revitalized due to the efforts of the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation. The spring, which produces 22,000 gallons of water each day, is considered by the Tongva to be one of their last remaining sacred sites and is regularly used for ceremonial events.
Living in such a high growth area, many controversies have naturally arisen around land use issues relating to the Tongva. Balancing the needs of the approximately 300 member tribe with the millions of inhabitants of
Los Angeles has often had to be resolved in the courts. Burial grounds have been inadvertently disturbed by developers. The tribe has complained about bones being broken by archeologists studying the site.
Another widely known controversy was over an area called
Puvungna, which is believed by the Tongva to be the place of creation. The site, formerly home to a Tongva village and also containing an active spring, is located on the grounds of what is today
California State University, Long Beach. While a portion of Puvungna (a burial ground on the western edge of the campus) is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, nevertheless developers have repeatedly attempted, beginning in 1992, to build a
strip mall in the area. They were blocked by the courts after petition by the Tongva for relief.
Historically, the Tongva, like most Native Americans, have lost many of their battles to preserve their lands and culture. Whether or not the Tongva will be able to maintain their culture and historic lands in the future is somewhat uncertain.
The library of
Loyola Marymount University, located in Los Angeles, has an extensive collection of archival materials related to the Tongva and their history.
In February 2006, archaeologists uncovered a prehistoric milling area estimated to be 8,000 years old at the base of the
San Gabriel Mountains near
Azusa, California. The find included about 100 tools used by the Tongva tribe. [
1] [
2]
* There is no single governing body accepted by all Tongva:
**
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe**
Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council of San Gabriel*
Tongva (Gabrielinos)*
Antelope Valley Indian Museum (includes a searchable database of its collections, which include many Tongva artifacts)
