Los Angeles

Lore & Background

The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga. It became a part of the First Mexican Empire in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded California—including Los Angeles—to the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California.

In Their Own Story

The air hummed with static electricity as the bus wound through Pasadena traffic under a pale blue sky. Thousands of fans spilled out onto the grassy slopes surrounding the stadium, wearing jerseys from nations they would never visit otherwise. Inside, the roar was deafening—a wall of sound that vibrated in the chest. When the final whistle blew, confetti rained down on a field soaked by both sweat and sudden summer rain, marking a moment where football truly touched America.

Reader's Guide

Los Angeles has a diverse economy with a broad range of industries. Despite a decline in film production, it is the oldest and one of the largest hubs of film and television production. It has one of the busiest container ports in the Americas. Despite an exodus of commerce, Downtown Los Angeles is evolving as a cultural center with the world's largest showcase of architecture designed by Frank Gehry. In 2024, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $1.295 trillion, making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after New York and Tokyo. Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and will host the games for a third time in 2028.

Did You Know?

• Los Angeles is the second-most visited city in the U.S. (after New York City), welcoming tens of millions of visitors annually.
• The city covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2) and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States.
• The original name of the settlement is disputed; the Guinness Book of World Records rendered it as 'El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula'.