Portolá Expedition Reaches Santa Monica

Background. Gaspar de Portolá, a Spanish Army officer and the first governor of the Californias, led an expedition into California that laid foundations for Spanish rule and named geographic features still in use. Pressing north toward Monterey Bay, Portolá departed on July 14, 1769 with Juan Crespí, 63 leather-jacket soldiers, and 100 mules of provisions, marching two to four leagues a day.

Arrival at Santa Monica. While marching north, the expedition reached the area of present-day Santa Monica, a coastal city on Santa Monica Bay in California's South Coast. The party camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3, 1769. The Tongva people were indigenous to this area, meaning the explorers were the first non-indigenous group there rather than the first people.

Historiographical Note. Popular accounts sometimes describe the party as the 'first white group' to set foot in the area now known as Santa Monica. This phrasing overstates the claim: the Tongva were indigenous to the Santa Monica area long before 1769, and the sources describe the explorers only as the first non-indigenous group. The sources do not document any earlier European landing at this specific site.