Chronology

This chronology of the major events in California’s Portuguese community was compiled by Eduardo Mayone Dias, Ph.D., while preparing the manuscript for his book The Portuguese Presence in California, published in English translation as part of Portuguese Heritage Publications of California’s Pioneer Collection.
Dr. Mayone Dias, Professor Emeritus at UCLA, led his university’s highly-regarded Portuguese Studies program for many years. Throughout his career he has extensively researched the history of the Portuguese in California, and his articles have been published in many Portuguese-language newspapers.
Incorporating Dr. Dias’s wonderful research, Portuguese Heritage Publications is now publishing his entire chronology on this website. Furthermore, we look forward to visitor input about events and dates not yet included in this chronology. Our intent is to turn it into a living document where everyone can quickly find important dates and events, or submit an event or date not yet included.
Consult or download “A Chronology of the Portuguese in California” (English) (PDF).
Adding an Event to the Chronology Table
If you wish to add to this master chronology, please contact us.
Before submitting information on a historic event, please review the criteria below.
- An event, an individual, an organization, etc. to be considered worthy of note and historic value, must have had a positive and substantial impact on the economic, political, cultural, educational, or social realms of the Portuguese Community of California and/or the State of California.
- To substantiate the criteria in item 1. it would be helpful for the submitter to share her/his source(s) of information, so that the occurrence may be properly ratified and the significance of the event, the individual or the organization thoroughly described.
- PHPC will work with the submitter to in good faith, arrive at the conclusion that the criteria described herein is substantially met.
- In some cases, the required substantiating information may be difficult or impossible to acquire. In such eventuality, PHPC may decide at its discretion to postpone publication until such time as new corroborating information is available. The submitter will be notified of PHPC’s decision and the rationale for same.
- An item may be re-submitted as many times as necessary provided that each time, the re-submission is accompanied by new and compelling information intended to further advance ratification of the event.