THE GABRIELINO

THE GABRIELINO WERE AN INDIAN TRIBE THAT WERE DESCENDED FROM SHOSHONE PEOPLE who had migrated to AND OCCUPIED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, SPECIFICALLY RIVERSIDE, SAN BERNADINO, LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTIES INCLUDING THE ISLANDS OF SAN CLEMENTE AND CATALINA.

GABRIELINO COMMUNITIES AT ONE TIME NUMBERED RIGHT AROUND ONE HUNDRED.

THE MODERN CITIES OF TEHUNGNA AND CUCAMONGA WERE ORIGINALLY GABRIELINO VILLAGES

LOS ANGELES ITSELF WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED YANGNA.

THEY WERE AN ECONOMICALLY ADVANCED SOCIETY THAT HAD DEVELOPED THEIR OWN MONETARY SYSTEM UTILIZING STRINGS OF SHELL BEADS FOR CURRENCY. THEY MINED SOAP STONE FROM CATALINA WHICH THEY CARVED INTO USEFUL ARTICLES AND TRADED WITH NEIGHBORING TRIBES AS FAR EAST AS NEW MEXICO.

THEIR GOVERNMENT WAS TYPICAL OF INDIGENOUS AMERICAN PEOPLE WITH A CHIEF AND HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY AS A RULING CLASS. THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE SHAMAN WHO WERE PART OF A JIMSONWEED CULT AND WORSHIPED THE GOD CHIN-GICH-N-GISH.

THE GABRIELINO WERE A PEACEFUL PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN LODGES BUILT FROM WOODEN POLES AND MATS WOVEN FROM TULE GRASS.

THEY WERE MONOTHEISTIC, MONOGAMOUS, BATHED EVERY DAY AS PART OF STRICT REGIMEN AND NEVER WORE CLOTHES.

YES THEIRS WAS A NEAR PERFECT EXISTENCE THAT WAS TOO GOOD TO LAST

ALONG CAME A MAN NAMED GASPAR DE PORTOLA AND THE SPANISH MISSIONARIES

WHEN THE SPANISH BEGAN TO POPULATE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEY BROUGHT THE GABRIELINOS EVERY THING THEY DIDN'T NEED, A NEW RELIGION, STEEL TOOLS, CLOTHES,

BAD PERSONAL HYGIENE, AND SYPHILIS. AS WITH MOST AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES THE GABRIELINO HAD NO NATURAL RESISTANCE TO MOST OF THE EUROPEAN DISEASES

INCLUDING INFLUENZA, TUBERCULOSIS AND ALCOHOLISM.

AS A RESULT THEY BEGAN THEIR SLOW DECLINE INTO EXTINCTION

THE NAME GABRIELINO MEANS "PEOPLE OF THE SAN GABRIEL MISSION."

THIS WAS A SPANISH WAY TO CATEGORIZE AN ENTIRE NATION OF SMALL TRIBES.

WHEN MEXICO LOST THE WAR AND THEIR LAND BECAME PART OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THE PEOPLE NOW KNOWN AS THE GABRIELINO WHO ONCE NUMBERED IN THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS HAD THEIR POPULATION REDUCED TO ONLY ABOUT EIGHTEEN HUNDRED. THEIR PLIGHT UNDER THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WAS NO BETTER THAN IT WAS UNDER THE SPANISH AND MEXICANS AND BY THE TURN OF THE CENTURY ONLY A HANDFUL HAD SURVIVED.

BY THE NINETEEN FIFTIES NOT ONE FULL BLOODED GABRIELINO REMAINED.