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The area has long been inhabited by the Kumeyaay people. The first European to visit the region was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo,
sailing under the flag of Spain, in 1542. He named it San Miguel. The San Diego Bay and the area of present-day San Diego
were given their current names by Sebastian Vizcaino when he was mapping the coastline of Alta California for Spain in 1602.
The explorers camped near a Native American village called Nipaguay and celebrated Mass in honor of San Diego de Alcala
(Saint Didacus of Alcalá). California was then part of the colony of New Spain.
In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà and his expedition founded the Presidio of San Diego (military post), and on July 16, Franciscan
friars Junípero Serra, Juan Viscaino and Fernando Parron raised and blessed a cross, establishing the first mission in Upper
California, Mission San Diego de Alcala. Colonists began arriving in 1774; the following year, the native people rebelled.
They killed the priest and two others, and burned the mission. Father Serra organized the rebuilding and two years later a
fire-proof adobe structure was built. By 1797 the mission had become the largest in California, with over 1,400 natives
associated with it.
In 1821, Spain recognized Mexico's independence. The governor of Alta California and Baja California moved the capital to San
Diego from Monterey. The mission was secularized in 1834 and 432 people petitioned Governor José Figueroa to form a pueblo.
Commandant Santiago Arguello endorsed it. Juan Maria Osuna was elected the first alcalde (mayor), winning over Pio Pico in
the 13 ballots cast. However, the population of the town shrank to little over a hundred persons, and by the late 1830s it
lost its township until the province of Alta California became part of the United States in 1850 following the Mexican defeat
in the Mexican-American War. The village was designated the seat of the newly-established San Diego County and incorporated
as a city.
In 1885, San Diego was linked to the rest of the nation by railroad. San Diego was reincorporated as a city in 1886.
Significant U.S. Naval presence began in 1907 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station.
San Diego hosted two World's Fairs, the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 and the California Pacific International
Exposition in 1935.
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