The city of San Diego has been shaped by both natural forces and by human culture.
The land area of San Diego is very young, in geological terms. Most of what we see now is less than 100,000 years old. The area has been constantly battered through geological time by changes in sea level and, most importantly, by tectonic forces. Southern California sits at the juncture of several tectonic plates which results in a large network of faults. In San Diego, the most important of these is the Rose Canyon Fault, part of the larger San Andreas Fault which formed when two tectonic plates began moving past each other. The pressure from these geological forces has been steadily pushing up the land area around San Diego, and erosion of this uplifted land has resulted in the San Diego Formation, a layer of sedimentary rocks that are around 10,000 years old and makes up much of the surface today.
The earliest human residents of the area were the Kumeyaay Native Americans, who have occupied this area for at least 9-10,000 years. Not surprisingly, they were heavily dependent upon the sea and lived largely by fishing and gathering shellfish, and also made extensive use of acorns from the coastal forests.
The first contact with Europeans was in 1542, when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese who was working for the Spanish and was exploring the then-unknown west coast of North America, entered what is now the area of the US Navy’s submarine base. Cabrillo spent six days here before continuing on. The next Spanish expedition didn’t arrive until November 1602, when Sebastian Vizcaino spent ten days mapping the area, and it was Vizcaino who gave the name “San Diego de Alcala”.
The first permanent Spanish settlement came in 1769, when a group of Catholics led by Franciscan Father Junipero Serra arrived with the goal of establishing a Mission and converting the local Kumeyaay to Christianity. The Spanish were protected by a military Presidio that was established on a nearby hill, and the area became part of the Spanish province of “Mexico”. The Kumeyaay natives resented the encroachment and launched a brief rebellion in which they burned down the Mission, but they were quickly suppressed and were mostly wiped out by introduced diseases. By the time Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the area had become dotted with large cattle ranches.
Then a new player arrived. The United States had its eyes on westward expansion, which resulted in war with Mexico. “California” became a target, and in July 1846 American troops reached San Diego. At the end of the war in 1848, Mexico surrendered half of its territory to the US, including the entire province of California, and to protect its new acquisition the US Navy established a base in San Diego. Just as the war ended, gold was found in California and American settlers began pouring in, and California became a US State in 1850.
For a time, San Diego remained mostly a military port, with some cattle ranching in the surrounding countryside. That changed in 1885 when the railroads arrived, connecting the town to the rest of the United States. The city swelled into an important shipping and transportation hub, especially after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, and the population grew steadily as immigrant workers arrived from Italy, Japan and Portugal. During World War One San Diego became the principle base for the Pacific Fleet. The Navy also established the North Island Naval Air Station, one of the first military centers to experiment with airplanes.
In addition, the tourist industry grew quickly during this time, as real estate developers took advantage of the sunny seaside climate. The Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, and other luxury resorts followed as railroads carried wealthy vacationers from the East Coast.
Today, San Diego has a population of around 1.3 million, making it the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest in the United States. Much of the city’s economy is still based on its military presence, on commercial shipping, and on the tourist trade.
The city’s history is remembered in the Old Town San Diego State Historical Park, which protects a number of buildings from the early settlement—some are original to the site, and others are reconstructed. There are docents and re-enactors in period costume to give tours and answer questions.
Some photos.
Old Town
Visitor Center
A model depicting the original Old Town
A small museum
Artifacts recovered from the site
The Seeley Stables, from 1874
Blacksmith
Rust General Store
Inside the store
Commercial Restaurant. Built in 1843, this building was occupied by a series of restaurants and a chapel.
Inside the restaurant
Built in 1830, this cigar and tobacco store burned down in 1870
A collection of pipes
The town jail
Inside the jail
The Machado y Stewart house, built in 1835
The dining room
Printshop, opened in 1868, for the “San Diego Union” newspaper
Printing press
The Mormon Battalion site focuses on the battalion of Mormon soldiers who moved to San Diego during the Mexican War in 1847. The site is owned by the Mormon Church.
Our tour guides demonstrate some of the equipment worn by the battalion
Model 1816 flintlock muskets
Mountain howitzer
Panning for gold like the 49ers
I’m rich ! (OK, it’s not real gold—it’s iron pyrite.)
Nice view of the city from the observation tower
