Author: Chiara Luz Atoyebi

In 1781, Los Angeles was founded as a small farming village—not as a massive European colony, but as a modest agricultural community established by families from what is now Mexico. The settlement, officially named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, was organized under the direction of Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. At the time, California was part of the Spanish empire, administered through Mexico (then called New Spain). The founding of Los Angeles was a civilian project: it was meant to grow crops, raise livestock, and supply nearby military presidios and missions not to function as a military conquest site.

Image of Felipe de Neve, 4th Governor of the Californias, 1781, found in Public Domain

The 44 original settlers—11 families—were recruited primarily from the Mexican regions of Sinaloa and Sonora. A significant number came specifically from Sinaloa, bringing experience in farming, ranching, irrigation, and frontier survival. These settlers were not primarily European-born Spaniards. Census records from 1781 clearly list them by racial classifications used in colonial Mexico: Mestizo, Mulato, Negro, and Español.

Only two of the adult settlers were classified as Español (Spanish). The majority were people of mixed ancestry. Mestizos—people of combined Indigenous Mexican and Spanish heritage formed a large portion of the group. Mulato’s who were people of mixed African and Spanish ancestry, were also prominently represented. Several settlers were identified as having African heritage directly.

Among the African-descended settlers were individuals whose ancestry traced to the Asante (Ashanti) people of present-day Ghana in West Africa. The Asante were part of a powerful West African kingdom deeply affected by the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved Asante people were transported to Mexico during the colonial period, where many later gained freedom, intermarried, and became integrated into Mexican society. By the late 18th century, their descendants were free citizens of Mexico and part of frontier settlement efforts. The documented link between Asante ancestry and some of the Los Angeles settlers highlights a direct West African connection to the city’s founding families.

Casta Paintings in the Public Domain

Understanding the racial terms used at the time helps clarify the makeup of the pueblo. “Mestizo” referred specifically to a person of Spanish and Indigenous ancestry. “Mulato” referred to someone of African and Spanish ancestry. These classifications were part of Mexico’s colonial caste system, yet on the northern frontier—far from Mexico City—social lines were often more fluid. In Los Angeles, families of African, Indigenous, and European ancestry worked side by side to survive.

Life in early Los Angeles revolved around agriculture. The settlers built homes near the Los Angeles River and constructed irrigation ditches (zanjas) to water their crops. The pueblo consisted of a central plaza, modest adobe homes, small fields, and grazing lands. It was rural, tightly knit, and cooperative. Families depended on each other for food production, protection, and trade. Diversity was not a modern development—it was present from the first day.

Comparing Los Angeles then and now reveals both contrast and continuity. In 1781, the entire settlement consisted of fewer than 50 people living in adobe structures surrounded by farmland. Today, Los Angeles is a sprawling metropolis of nearly four million residents, with neighborhoods stretching from Boyle Heights to South Los Angeles, from East L.A. to the San Fernando Valley. Instead of dirt paths and crop fields, the city is defined by freeways, high-rises, ports, and film studios.

Yet the diversity remains strikingly consistent. Modern Los Angeles is known for its Mexican, African American, Central American, Asian, and multiracial communities. Neighborhoods reflect layered migrations over centuries—but the multiracial foundation was present at the beginning. The original pueblo was Indigenous, African, and European at once. Today’s Los Angeles, often described as one of the most diverse cities in the world, mirrors the blended ancestry of its founders.

Los Angeles did not begin as a homogeneous colonial outpost. It began as a humble Mexican farming village built by Mestizo and Mulato families—many from Sinaloa, some with documented Asante roots—whose shared labor and cultural blending shaped the identity of the city long before it became a global metropolis.

References

Castillo, E. D. (1994). The Los Angeles pobladores: The founding families of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles, 1781. Los Angeles Historical Society.

Forbes, J. D. (1993). Africans and Native Americans: The language of race and the evolution of Red-Black peoples. University of Illinois Press.