Toypurina

Who was Toypurina?

Toypurina was a Tongva/Gabrieliño Native American medicine woman who opposed the rule of colonization by Spanish missionaries in California, and led an unsuccessful rebellion against them.

Born in 1760, Toypurina was 9 years old when the Spanish settlers first invaded what is now the Los Angeles Basin of Las Californias. She was 11 when Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was begun. She was 21 when Governor Governor Felipe de Neve founded the Pueblo of Los Angeles in 1781 Alta California. In time, Toypurina rose to be a powerful spiritual leader, respected for her bravery and wisdom. She was considered a great communicator, speaking with and trading with the dozens of villages in the many Tongvan dialects and other indigenous languages of California used from Santa Catalina Island through the eastern foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains to the northwestern San Fernando Valley.