For the most part, the history of San Diego native Americans has been ignored. San Diego indians did not fit the Hollywood image of horseback riding, wagon train raiding warriors. They did not wear colorful beads and buckskin clothes. They did not hunt bison or live in tipis.

The indians were considered Stone Age people as they had no metals. San Diego indians, like most California tribes, were identified by the languages they spoke. The Kumeyaay spoke Yuman. There were four basic tribes:
1. Cahuilla north of Lake Henshaw and into Riverside County
2. Cupeño occupied a small area in the mountains near Lake Henshaw
3. Luisiño of northern San Diego county
4. Diegueños of northern and southern San Diego county.

Diegueño is a name the Spanish called the Indians. Diegueños called themselves Kumeyaay, Kamia, Ipaí, or Tipaí. They consisted of northern Ipaí and southern Tipaí. The San Diego River serves as the dividing point between the north and south. The early natives roamed from the seashore through the valleys, the mountains, and to the desert.

After the Spanish arrived, smallpox and other diseases greatly reduced the number of Kumeyaay. They were driven from their traditional resource areas and food. Grazing animals brought by the Spanish destroyed the grasses. Then a series of droughts followed establishment of the missions. Village groups broke upas it was easier to feed smaller numbers. Thus began the end.

In 1769, the Spanish arrived and changed Kumeyaay way of life forever. Missionaries were only interested in converting the Kumeyaay and in using them as free labor to build missions. Within a decade, the demands by the Spanish became so intolerable, the Kumeyaay attacked the mission. These attempts failed and as a result many of them moved further east. Father Francisco Palou wrote in the Historical Memoirs of New California that the Indians of San Diego were arrogant, haughty, noisy, bold, intelligent, great traders, and thievish. "All men go naked and most are painted. Women are covered in front with woven fibers and behind with the skins of aminals. They are all armed with bows and arrows."

When the Spanish came to San Deigo, estimates on the numbers of indians ranged from 10,000 to 20,000. Between 1791 and 1794, the yield at missions was good because the Padre Dam held lots of water. The dam washed out in 1794 and crop yields dropped. Many became ill in their weakened state.

In 1821, Mexico overthrew the Spanish government and seized all of the mission lands. Many of the Indians who had remained at the mission or lived nearby became slaves. Others fled east. In1846, the United States stepped in and imposed their laws and policies. Both the Hispanics and the Anglos had little compassion or respect for the Indians. As a result, the Indians suffered politically, economically, and legally. Indians continued to move east as their land was invaded or ruined until finally they were pushed way into the mountains which could not support them. Many then moved south into Mexico. Others went to work on ranches. By then, most of the original Indian culture had been damaged beyond repair. Ranchers assumed ownership of Indian lands and then forced them to work on the ranches. When gold was discovered, even more people came and destroyed more of the Kumeyaay way of life.

Between 1875 and 1939, 8 reservations were established. The largest reservation is Capitan Grande with 15,753.40 and the smallest is Mesa Grande with 120 acres. Many Kumeyaay farmed successfully on land titled in 1894. During WWII, Indians found work in factories and the military. After the war, farming on reservations increased. However another drought caused non-native ranchers to dig deeper wells which cut off water to the reservations and eventually stopped farming on reservations.

In 1954, Indians became California "citizens." This meant the loss of all services previously provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs such as education, health care, and job training. Few knew how to apply for aid under the new system. Many Indians went without services. In 1960, new housing and education programs were created for the Indians. However, many local reservations were too small to qualify. Over time and in order to survive, they became more knowledgeable about the governmental process and began to actively practice self-advocacy and self-government.

The Environmental Protection Act of 1969 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 enabled Indians to attempt to protect their sacred places outside of reservation boundaries. Ancestral cemeteries are still a matter of contention. Indians were forced to practice a variety of Christian religions from the time of their first encounter with Europeans until 1934. Their own religion and religious ceremonies were forbidden by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In fact, at one of the last religious ceremonies in the 1920's, participants were shot. (The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo supposedly guaranteed the rights of indigenous people to practice their own religion; but failed to do so).

The settlement on land originally the sole domain of American Indians brought about the destruction of the native people. In addition to being forced to accept new laws, religion, and economics, the Indians also suffered severely from European diseases such as smallpox, chickenpox, measles, mumps, influenza and the common cold.