Native American people lived throughout San Diego continuously
Subsistence changed from more nomadic hunting to a focus on coastal marine and inland food sources with native plant gathering to a semi-sedentary lifestyle with limited horticulture
Significant time markers include changes in stone tools, mortuary practices, and the introduction of pottery
Spanish exploration begins
Spanish Period (1769 to 1821)
Arrival of Spanish missionaries and explorers
Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcala established
Spanish occupation and mission system profoundly changed lives of the Kumeyaay people
Early house lots and garden plots in what would become Old Town
Mexican Period (1821 to 1846)
Mexico wins independence from Spain and San Diego becomes part of the Mexican Republic
Rancho system of extensive land grants to individuals
Secularization of the San Diego Mission
Mexico granted San Diego official pueblo (town) status
Native American population continued to decline
American Development (1846-Present)
Americans assumed formal control under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848
William Heath Davis founded the earliest American development of "New Town" in 1850
Alonzo Horton arrived in 1867 and helped San Diego develop into an active American town
Expansion of trade brought an increase in the availability of building material
Active African-American and Chinese communities lived and worked downtown
Urban growth spurred by industrial capitalism and land speculation and early private infrastructure investment
Chinese, German, Swiss, Italian, Portuguese, and other immigrants owned businesses and worked throughout San Diego, as do their descendants today
City of San Diego General Plan,Historic Preservation Element, March, 2008, www.sandiego.gov, accessed October, 2011.
