The first European settlement on the West Coast of the present-day United States was the San Diego Presidio, a military outpost of Spanish California, founded by Gaspar de Portolà in 1769, in an area inhabited by the Kumeyaay people. Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded by Father Junípero Serra the same year. Both were built on Presidio Hill, which remained the primary settlement for several decades because it was defensible.
Read more »