Page 103 - California Diving and Surfing
P. 103
uring this time, the island was sporadi- Pimu or Pimugna and referred to them- of the Pimugnans. By the 1830s, the island’s
D cally used for smuggling, otter hunt- selves as the Pimugnans or Pimuvit. Archeo- entire native population were either dead
ing, and gold-digging, before successfully logical evidence shows Pimugnan settle- or had migrated to the mainland to work in
being developed into a tourist destination
by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, ment beginning in 7000 BC. The Pimugnans the missions or as ranch hands for the many
Jr. beginning in the 1920s. Since the 1970s,
most of the island has been administered had settlements all over the island at one private land owners. Franciscan friars con-
by the Catalina Island Conservancy. The
total population as of the 2010 census was time or another, with their biggest villages sidered building a mission on Catalina, but
4,096 people, 90 percent of whom live in
the island’s only incorporated city, Avalon. being at the Isthmus and at present-day abandoned the idea because of the lack of
The second center of population is the
unincorporated village of Two Harbors at Avalon. The Pimugnans were renowned for fresh water on the island. While Spain main-
the island’s isthmus. Development occurs
also at the smaller settlements of Rancho their mining, working and trade of soap- tained its claim on Catalina Island, foreign-
Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remain-
ing population is scattered over the island stone which was found in great quantities ers were forbidden to trade with colonies.
between the two population centers.
and varieties on the island. This material However, it lacked the ships to enforce this
P rior to the modern era, the island was
inhabited by people of the Gabrielino/ was in great demand and was traded along prohibition, and the island served as home
Tongva tribe, who, having had villages near
present day San Pedro and Playa del Rey, the California coast. or base of operation for many visitors.
regularly traveled back and forth to Cat-
alina for trade. The Tongva called the island T he first European to set foot on the is- Hunters from the Aleutian Islands, Russia,
land was the Portuguese explorer Juan and America set up camps on Santa Cat-
alina and the surrounding Channel Islands
Rodríguez Cabrillo, who sailed in the name to hunt sea otters and seals around the
of the Spanish crown. On October 7, 1542, island for their pelts. Pirates also found that
he claimed the island for Spain and chris- the island’s abundance of hidden coves, as
tened it San Salvador after his ship. Over well as its short distance to the mainland
half a century later, another Spanish ex- and its small population, made it suitable
plorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, rediscovered the for smuggling activities.
island. Vizcaino renamed the island in the
saint’s honor. The colonization of California
by the Spanish coincided with the decline
