
The Kumeyaay (Tipai-Ipai) people lived on San Diego Bay and its mesas for thousands of years before European contact, and remain part of the region today.
San Diego began in July 1769, when Spain founded the Presidio of San Diego and Mission San Diego de Alcalá — the first of California's twenty-one missions.
Why People Visit San Diego
San Diego rewards visitors with a rare mix: deep early-California history, a working Navy harbor, great parks, and miles of Pacific coast under a famously mild sky. People come for Balboa Park and the bay, the beaches and Point Loma sunsets, and the story of the city where California began — historic, easygoing, unmistakably Californian.