The history of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians are Kumeyaay people and are indigenous to a wide area of southern California and northern Mexico that spans, what is today, San Diego and Imperial counties as well as northern Baja California. Evicted from their ancestral village near San Pasqual Valley in the late 19th Century, many descendants of the Kumeyaay- Ipai band began returning to the area in the late 1950’s to settle on the San Pasqual Reservation.
San Pasqual is one of thirteen bands that make up the Kumeyaay Nation in Southern California. There are four other Kumeyaay bands in Northern Mexico. The bands originally spoke a similar Hokan languag e of the Yuman stock, but only a handful of Kumeyaay remain fluent speakers.
Unlike Kumeyaay bands that managed to remain together as a group through the torturous era of Spanish and European settlement, San Pasqual descendants were dispersed throughout the region.
San Pasqual residents occasionally gather with other Kumeyaay tribes, singing bird songs, playing traditional Kumeyaay games, such as peon, and engaging in other cultural activities.
Today, the San Pasqual Reservation is a thriving community of over 1,500 residents. Expanded economic opportunities that include Valley View Casino and other Tribal business ventures have helped to improve the lives of Tribal Members and their descendants. The inspiring revival of the Reservation can be seen in well maintained roads, modern tribal government buildings, and in the overall well-being of the residents. Revenue from the casino funds other municipal services including fire protection, Tribal police patrols, housing services, and educational programs. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians continues to seek the enrichment and advancement of its citizens and future generations while honoring culture and traditions of the past.
MISSION STATEMENT
To protect and preserve ancestral remains, sacred lands, and sacred object under the Native American and Graves Protection Act (NAGPRA) for today and future generations.
