Editing Long Beach, California (section)

===Spanish and Mexican period===
[[File:Portrait_of_Don_Juan_Temple,_an_early_owner_of_the_Ranch_Los_Cerritos_in_Long_Beach.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Don [[Juan Temple]] purchased [[Rancho Los Cerritos]], covering modern-day Long Beach, in 1843.]]
[[File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Photographed by Daniel Cathcart, March 8th, 1934. GENERAL VIEW OF NORTH SIDE - Casa de los Cerritos, 4600 American Avenue, Long Beach, Los HABS CAL,19-LONGBN,1-8 (cropped).tif|thumb|left|In 1844, Juan Temple built the [[Los Cerritos Ranch House|Casa de los Cerritos]], the oldest building in Long Beach, in a [[Monterey Colonial architecture|Monterey Colonial style]].|172x172px]]
In 1784, the [[Spanish Empire]]'s [[King Carlos III]] granted [[Rancho Los Nietos]] to Spanish soldier [[Manuel Nieto (soldier)|Manuel Nieto]]. The [[Rancho Los Cerritos]] and [[Rancho Los Alamitos]] were divided from this territory. The boundary between the two ranchos ran through the center of Signal Hill on a southwest to northeast diagonal. A portion of western Long Beach was originally part of the [[Rancho San Pedro]]. Its boundaries were in dispute for years, due to flooding changing the [[Los Angeles River]] boundary between Rancho San Pedro and Rancho Los Nietos.

By 1805, what had been the major Tongva village of [[Puvunga]] was thoroughly depleted of villagers, most of whom were brought to [[Mission San Gabriel Arcángel|Mission San Gabriel]] for [[Conversion to Christianity|conversion]] and as a labor force.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Guinn |first=James Miller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xu81AQAAMAAJ |title=History of the State of California and Biographical Record to Oakland and Environs: Also Containing Biographies of Well-known Citizens of the Past and Present |date=1907 |publisher=Historic Record Company |pages=57–59 |language=en |type=Digitized eBook}}</ref> Many villagers died at the mission, which had a [[Spanish missions in California#Death rate at the missions|high rate of death]], particularly among children,<ref name=":172">{{Cite journal |last=Singleton |first=Heather Valdez |date=2004 |title=Surviving Urbanization: The Gabrieleno, 1850–1928 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1409498 |journal=Wíčazo Ša Review |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=49–59 |doi=10.1353/wic.2004.0026 |jstor=1409498|s2cid=161847670}}</ref> attributed to many factors like diseases that spread quickly in the close quarters of the mission's walls, as well as torture, malnourishment, and overworking.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Pritzker |first=Barry |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42683042 |title=A Native American encyclopedia : history, culture, and peoples |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=Barry Pritzker |isbn=0-19-513877-5 |location=Oxford |page=114 |oclc=42683042}}</ref>

[[File:Diseño Del Rancho Los Alamitos 1852 Los Cerritos Santa Gertrudis Coyotes Siérritos Bolsas.jpg|thumb|left|[[Diseño]] depicting Ranchos [[Rancho Los Alamitos|Los Alamitos]], [[Rancho Los Cerritos|Los Cerritos]], [[Rancho Santa Gertrudes|Santa Gertrudes]], [[Rancho Los Coyotes|Los Coyotes]], [[Rancho Las Bolsas|Las Bolsas]], 1852]]

In 1843, [[Juan Temple]] bought [[Rancho Los Cerritos]], having arrived in California in 1827 from [[New England]]. He built what is now known as the "[[Los Cerritos Ranch House]]", a still-standing [[adobe]] which is a [[National Historic Landmark]]. Temple created a thriving cattle ranch and prospered, becoming the wealthiest man in Los Angeles County. Both Temple and his ranch house played important local roles in the [[Mexican–American War]]. On an island in the [[San Pedro Bay (California)|San Pedro Bay]], [[Mormon]] pioneers made an abortive attempt to establish a colony (as part of [[Brigham Young]]'s plan to establish a continuous chain of settlements from the Pacific to [[Salt Lake City|Salt Lake]]).