Editing Brea, California (section)

=== Mexican era ===
The majority of the current city boarders of Brea were within the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Orange County |url=http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Clerk-Recorder/Docs/Archives/Spanish_and_Mexican_Ranchos.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726003947/http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Clerk-Recorder/Docs/Archives/Spanish_and_Mexican_Ranchos.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-26 |access-date=May 14, 2025 |website=Wayback Machine}} [http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/Clerk-Recorder/Docs/Archives/Spanish_and_Mexican_Ranchos.pdf Alt URL]</ref> The cessation of territory to the United States in 1848 ushered in a new era of decline for the ranchos as rigorous title-proving processes enacted in 1851 and drought in 1860 caused most owners to sell their land. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guinn |first=J. M. |date=1915 |title=The Passing of the Rancho |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41168911?searchText=california+ranchos&searchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=california+ranchos&so=rel&ab_segments=0/basic_search_gsv2/control&refreqid=fastly-default:d296de09a4b5e8bb8eb0b6ccec0d2078&seq=1 |journal=Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California |volume=10 |issue=1/2 |pages=46–53 |doi=10.2307/41168911 |issn=2162-9145}}</ref>