Comicranga was a coastal

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

village located at what is now the area of

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. The village is also referred to as Comigranga, Comicraibit, Comicrabit, and possibly Coronababit. It is most notable as the home village of Bartolomea, or Victoria Reid after marriage, a respected Indigenous woman in

Mexican California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

, who was the wife of

Hugo Reid Hugo Reid (April 18, 1811 – December 12, 1852), a Scottish immigrant, was an early resident of Los Angeles County who became known for writing a series of newspaper articles, or "letters," that described the culture, language, and contemporary ...

History

Indigenous

The village was established in the coastal region of western Tovaangar. As a coastal village, the usage of '' te'aats'' may have been important to the village's people. Villagers likely ate acorns, seeds, berries, small game, fish and shellfish. Shell mounds were also likely a part of the village. The village was connected to the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

through marriage ties. The village was located near

Guashna Guashna was a Tongva village located at Playa Vista, Los Angeles at the mouth of Ballona Creek. The site has also been referred to as Sa'angna (or some variation thereof), with various sources debating whether Sa'angna, meaning "place of tar," wa ...

Mission San Gabriel

Following the establishment of

Mission San Gabriel Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity * Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

in 1771, surrounding villages were gradually depleted of villagers, who were taken to the mission for conversion to Christianity as a labor force to work the mission grounds. Villagers worked in ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' slave conditions that were viewed by third-party observers at Mission San Gabriel as repulsive to watch. The earliest recorded baptisms of people being taken to Mission San Gabriel began in 1790. These baptisms reportedly peaked around 1803 and 1805, and then dropped off by 1819. This was around the same time land in the area of the village was being acquired by ranchers. In 1812, it was recorded by

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionaries that a language dialect may have originated from the village which they referred to as "Kokomcar." Many of the villagers died at the mission. There were a total of 7,854 baptisms (2,459 children) and 5,656 deaths (2,916 children) until

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

in 1834 at the mission, indicating a very high rate of death. Children died very young at the missions. One missionary at

reported that three out of every four children born died before reaching the age of two. The mission period ended with the passage of the Mexican secularization act in 1833 by the

First Mexican Republic The First Mexican Republic, known also as the First Federal Republic ( es, Primera República Federal, link=no), was a federated republic, under the Constitution of 1824. It was a nation-state officially designated the United Mexican States ( e ...

, with secularization at Mission San Gabriel occurring shortly after.

Victoria Bartolomea Reid

Bartolomea was born at Comicranga between 1808 and 1810 as the daughter of the chief of the village. She was taken from the village and her parents at the age of six, for conversion to Christianity at

and to live in a guarded dormitory. She is notable as one of the few Indigenous people, and women, who were granted a land grant, the Huerta de Cuati, in the Mexican era.

References

{{Tongva villages Tongva populated places Former Native American populated places in California History of Los Angeles County, California History of Santa Monica, California Native American history of California