A Brief History of the Luiseno.
They were known as Payomkawichum, or “People of the West.” They referred to themselves as
Ata’axam or “the People.” According to their lore, the Ata’axam have always occupied the San
Luis Rey Valley, including the coastline, the neighboring lagoons, the oak forest, the meadows,
and creeks and rivers to the north and south of the valley. The Ata’axam harvested the fertile
land and sea. Their extensive knowledge of the environment was passed through their culture
with songs, stories and dances from generation to generation.
Spaniards established Mission San Luis Rey in 1798. During this period the Spanish
missionaries imposed the name San Luiseno on the original inhabitants of the land
due to their
proximity to the
Mission
. Many of the Ata’axm died as
a result of European diseases, forced
labor, starvation, and loss of their way of life due to relocation and conversion to Catholicism.
During the Mexican Period (1832-1848), Mexico’s Sequestration policies took mission land from
the church and granted vast acreage to Californio ranchers. The Ata’axam were forced to serve
as laborers on Rancho Santa Marqarita y Flores, Rancho Monserrate, Rancho Guajome,
Rancho Aquia Hedionda, and Rancho Buena Vista.
The American period follows the Mexican War in 1848 and California Statehood in 1850. Under
terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexican nationals living in the Southwest became
U.S. citizens and their property rights required to be respected.
However, most of the Luisenos had no land title documents and no rights under the new
American government. Native Americans would not become U.S. citizens until 1924.
A reservation in the San Luis Rey valley was denied the San Luis Rey Band since the land was
already being homesteaded by U.S. settlers. In the 1870s a few reservations were established
near Palomar Mountain.
One estimate by Lee Davis in his “California Tribes (1996) in Encyclopedia of North American
Indians is that the
population of Mission Indians was reduced by 90 percent between 1769 and
1848.