page_title: San Diego
section_title: Pre-colonial period
hierarchical_section_title: San Diego / History / Pre-colonial period
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration: Arthur Schott, Sorony &amp; Co. (Napoleon Sarony) NY 1857, digitalized by Kosi Gramatikoff
context_page_description: San Diego is a city in the U.S. state of California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 120 miles south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico. With an estimated population of 1,423,851 as of July 1, 2019, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest in California. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second-largest transborder agglomeration between the U.S. and a bordering country after Detroit–Windsor, with a population of 4,922,723 people. The city is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.
  San Diego has been called "the birthplace of California". Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, it was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later.
context_section_description: The original inhabitants of the region are now known as the San Dieguito and La Jolla people. The area of San Diego has been inhabited by the Kumeyaay people, who were made up of scattered villages across the region, including the village of Cosoy (Kosa'aay) which was the Kumeyaay village that the future settlement of San Diego would stem from in today's Old Town. The village of Cosoy was made up of thirty to forty families living in pyramid-shaped housing structures and was supported by a freshwater spring along from the hillsides.
caption: Kumeyaay people lived in San Diego before Europeans settled there.
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