Who are the Californios

The Californios are the descendants of Hispanic settlers who settled in California during the Spanish & Mexican era, before 1848, most of them were Mexican Criollos of Spaniard descent, but some were also Mestizo (mixed Spaniard & Native American), Mulatto (mixed Spaniard & Black African), Native American (from Indigenous Mexican tribes), & Black African.

Today, there are a estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Californio descendants in California, almost all of them are no longer fluent in Spanish, are Americanized, & are usually mixed with Native American tribes such as the Tongva & Ohlone or are mixed with other Caucasoid ethnicities such as the Irish, Anglo-Saxons, Italians, Germans, etc, unlike the Tejanos in Texas, the vast majority of them don't identify as Californios, are identify as either Mexican/Chicano or Spanish.

Origins of the Californios

California became a colony of Spain in the 1700s, around the time of American Independence from Great Britain, it started with the Mission system, sending priests from Spain such as St. Junipero Serra to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism, shortly after, a system of Pueblos were established such as Los Angeles, there is a misconception that most Hispanic settlers came directly from Spain, which is not true at all, only the priests, governors, & soldiers were Peninsulares, most of the settlers came from Mexico, were usually of full-blooded or predominantly Spanish descent, also known as Criollos, however, most of the first pobladores in Los Angeles were either Indigenous Mexicans or Mulattoes, only two were Spaniards (1 criollo & 1 peninsular), California became part of Mexico after it's independence from Spain, & many more Hispanics settled in California during the Mexican era.

The Mexican-American War

After the United States annexed Texas, after being Independent for 10 years from Mexico, many American setters, mainly of British descent started settling in California, even declaring their own republic, a misconception is that Californios fought on the US side, which is not true at all, most Californios fought on the Mexican side, & after Mexico lost California to the US, despite another misconception that most Californios left California, the vast majority of them remained in California, & became American citizens with full rights, the Californios, along with the Anglo-Saxon settlers wrote the Constitution of California, in both English & Spanish, even a Californio, Raymond Pacheco was Governor of California for a short period of time, being the only Hispanic governor of the state to this day.

Californios in present-day California

Like already mentioned, there are a estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Californios in California today, most of them are not fluent in Spanish, & most of them have mixed with other Caucasoid ethnic groups such as Irish, Anglo-Saxons, Italians, Germans, etc or Native American tribes such as the Ohlone & Tongva, or more recent Mexican immigrants, most of the descendants of Californios don't identify with the Califonio label anymore, unlike the Tejanos of Texas, famous Californios include Aaron Pico (MMA fighter), Sam Liccardo (Mayor of San Jose), Gil Cisneros (Biden cabinet member), & Juan Archuelta (MMA fighter).

Photos of famous Californios