1823 - "Bernardino" on the Map

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

This is a small portion of an 1823 map of Mexico created by Jose Maria Narvaes.  It is titled, Carta esferica de los territorios de la alta y baja Californias y estado de Sonora.

This was the first time that "Bernardino" was annotated on a map.                                                                                                                                                 

The symbol to the left of Bernardino is that of a "rancheria".  The Spanish word rancheria refers to a small Indian settlement or is used to designate the workers' quarters of a ranch.  The term also describes a type of communal settlement formerly characteristic of the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico.

As the range of the California missions spread many of these small rancherias expanded into huge ranchos containing thousands of livestock and hundreds of acres of crops.

For example, the Bernardino Rancheria, formerly known as the Guachama Rancheria, (located on what is now Mission Road in Loma Linda) became Rancho San Bernardino of Mission San Gabriel.  Two other ranchos in the San Bernardino Valley, i.e., Rancho Agua Caliente and Rancho Jumuba, also belonged to Mission San Gabriel.

In 1842, Governor Alvarado granted Rancho San Bernardino to Jose de Carmen Lugo and relatives, who then sold it to the Mormons nine years later.  Rancho San Bernardino evolved into the City of San Bernardino (incorporated in 1854).

Note: To view the entire map click on the above map or visit the Library of Congress site at http://www.loc.gov/resource/g4300.mf000071/