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Recent archeological studies show there was a seafaring culture in Southern California in 8,000 B.C. By 3,000 B.C. the area was occupied by the Hokan-speaking people of the Milling Stone Period who both fished, hunted sea mammals, and gathered wild seeds. They were later replaced by migrants probably fleeing drought in the Great Basin who spoke a Uto-Aztecan language. By the time of the arrival of the Spaniard in the 18th century A.D., there were 250,000 to 300,000 native people in California and 5,000 in the Los Angeles basin. Since contact with Europeans, the people in what became Los Angeles were known as Gabrielinos and Fernandeños, after the missions associated with them. The land occupied and used by the Gabrielinos covered about four thousand square miles. It included the enormous floodplain drained by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers and the southern Channel Islands. They were part of a sophisticated group of trading partners.

Los Angeles, California