Hutuknga (alternative spellings: Hotuuknga or Hutuukuga) was a large

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 in the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

along the present channel of the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through ...

in what is now

Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census. Yor ...

. People from the village were recorded in mission records as Jutucabit. Hutuknga was part of a series of villages along the Santa Ana River, which included

Lupukngna Lupukngna was a coastal Tongva village that was at least 3,000 years old located on the bluffs along the Santa Ana River in Huntington Beach near the Newland House Museum. Other nearby coastal villages included Genga, located in West Newport Bea ...

, Genga,

Pajbenga Pajbenga, alternative spelling Pagbigna and Pasbengna, was a Tongva village located at Santa Ana, California, near the El Refugio Adobe, which was the home of José Sepulveda (now located near the intersection of Raitt Street and Myrtle Street). I ...

, and

Totpavit Totpavit, alternative spellings Totabit and possibly Totavet, was a Tongva village located in what is now Olive, California. The village was located between the Santa Ana River and Santiago Creek. It was part of a series of villages along the San ...

. The Turnball Canyon area is sometimes falsely associated with Hutuknga.

Village life

The village may have had a population of about 250 at the time of contact, and has been described as one of the largest Tongva villages. It was linked to the downstream village of Genga through marriage ties. It is likely that villagers primarily subsisted on

oak trees An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

for acorns and seeds from various grasses and sage bushes. Rabbit and

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

were likely consumed for meat. Like other surrounding villages, it likely had deep trade connections with coastal villages and those further inland.

History

The

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition ( es, Expedición de Portolá) was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European land entry and exploration of the interior of t ...

(1769-1770) may have come into contact with the village, in which a recount of the encounter recalled that residents brought gifts of food to the Spaniards. The chief then made a speech. Friar

Juan Crespí Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain in ...

noted "they are all very well-behaved tractable folk, who seem somewhat lean – though the men very strongly built – and food must be in short supply with them." People from the village were primarily baptized at

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 ...

as part of a larger colonial project of

Christian conversion Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of belie ...

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

Spanish missions in California The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests o ...

. One of the earliest converts at the mission was a boy from the village, who was converted in 1772. 240 people from Hutuknga were baptized in at Mission San Gabriel from between 1773 and 1790. It was recorded in San Gabriel mission records as a large village, along with Totabit, Pasinonga, and Wapijangna.

References

{{Indigenous peoples of California Tongva populated places History of Orange County, California Former Native American populated places in California Yorba Linda, California

Village life

History

See also

References