The rich history of Santa Catalina Island is sure to captivate the attention of all its visitors and all those who listen. Before being claimed by the Europeans, the island was inhabited by native americans who went by the name of the Tongva tribe. In 1542, a Portuguese explorer named Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claimed the island under control of Spain and called it San Salvador. In 1602, on the eve of Saint Catherine’s holiday, a spaniard by the name of Sebastian Vizcaino renamed the island in honor of the saint. Vizcaino sent word back to Europe, and soon many Europeans traveled to this island in search for a permanent spot of land. The new europeans and the natives of the island lived alongside one another well, but the disease brought from Europe caused the natives to travel to the mainland by the year 1831.
From the mid-1600s up till the mid-1800s, Catalina Island was a place of many purposes. Many of the island’s visitors were hunters, smugglers, and often times, soldiers and military officials. In 1920, William Wringley, Jr. bought the island in hopes of turning it into a vacation spot like no other. Wringley managed to promote the island by bringing the Chicago Cubs, which he owned, for every spring training. During World War II, the island was used for mainly military purposes, thus it was closed off from all tourists. After the war, William Wringley’s son, Philip Wringley, took over management, developed the island’s city, Avalon, and reopened it to the public. The island, as of 1970, has been managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy who has made the resort/travel destination the place we know it as today.