Editing Brea, California (section)

=== Spanish era ===
The area was visited on July 29, 1769, by the Spanish [[Portolá expedition]], the first Europeans to see inland parts of [[Alta California]]. The party camped in Brea Canyon, near a large native village and a small pool of clean water.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=142–143 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library}}</ref>

[[Image:Brea-oilfields1900s.jpg|left|thumb|[[Oil fields]] of the Brea area, early 1900s]]

The village of [[Olinda, Brea, California|Olinda]] was founded in present-day Carbon Canyon at the beginning of the 19th century. Many entrepreneurs came to the area searching for "black gold" (petroleum).