TERI HAWKINS

      San Pedro is a community within the city of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located within San Pedro. The district has grown from being dominated by the fishing industry to become primarily a working class community within the city of Los Angeles.

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      The site, at the southern end of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, on the west side of San Pedro Bay, was used by Spanish ships starting in the 1540s.

The peninsula, including all of San Pedro, was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieleño Native American people for thousands of years. In other areas of the Los Angeles Basin archeological sites date back 8,000-15,000 years. The Tongva believe they have been here since the beginning of time. Once called the "Lords of the ocean", due to their mastery of oceangoing canoes (T i'ats), many Tongva villages covered the coastline. Their first contact with Europeans in 1542 with Juan Rodrigo Cabrillo, the Portuguese explorer who also was the first to write of them.

Chowigna and Suangna were two Tongva settlements of many in the peninsula area, which was also a departure point for their rancherias on the Channel Islands. Legend has it that the Native Americans blessed the land of Palos Verdes, making it the most beautiful place on Earth.

The Tongva called the San Pedro area "Chaaw".