Genga, California

Genga was in close proximity and had influence over Newport Bay, as reflected in the bay's original name given by the Spanish Bolsa de Gengar. The village's influence may have extended up to the northern San Joaquin Hills.{{Cite book |last1=Koerper |first1=Henry |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/745176510 |title=Catalysts to complexity : late Holocene societies of the California coast |last2=Mason |first2=Roger |last3=Peterson |first3=Mark |date=2002 |publisher=Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA |others=Jon Erlandson, Terry L. Jones, Jeanne E. Arnold, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA |isbn=978-1-938770-67-8 |location=Los Angeles |pages=64 |oclc=745176510}} One estimate placed the village population at around 100–150 at the time of contact. The village was multiethnic and multilingual, being shared by the Tongva and Acjachemen.

Archaeological evidence dates the village to be at least 9,000 years old. As a coastal village, the usage of te'aats may have been important to the village's people.{{Cite book |last=L. Frank |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76901815 |title=First families : a photographic history of California Indians |date=2007 |publisher=Heyday Books |others=Kim Hogeland |isbn=978-1-59714-013-3 |location=Berkeley, Calif. |pages=108 |oclc=76901815}}{{cite journal |author1=Allan Sekula |author2=Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen |date=2004 |title=Interview with Allan Sekula: Los Angeles, California, October 26, 2002 |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |issue=66 |page=162 |issn=0147-5479 |jstor=27672963}} It is also likely that, similar to the nearby village of Lupukngna, villagers primarily subsisted on acorns, seeds, berries, small game, fish and shellfish. Shell mounds were a part of village life.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/276818569 |title=Early Costa Mesa |date=2009 |publisher=Arcadia Pub |others=Costa Mesa Historical Society |isbn=978-0-7385-6976-5 |location=Charleston, SC |pages=7 |oclc=276818569}}{{Cite book |last=California Coastal Commission |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16005763 |title=California coastal resource guide |date=1987 |publisher=University of California Press |others=Madge Caughman, Joanne S. Ginsberg |isbn=0-520-06186-1 |edition=1st |location=Berkeley |pages=320 |oclc=16005763}} Cog stones have been found in the village area as well.

File:Diego_Sepulveda_Adobe_Historical_Monument_^227_-_panoramio_(2).jpg was built in 1817 as a Mission outpost to surveil the villagers.]]

After the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, villagers were baptized at San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano missions and had marriage ties with villagers from Hutuknga, Puvunga, and settlements around San Juan Capistrano. The Diego Sepúlveda Adobe was built overlooking Lupukngna and Genga from between 1817 and 1823{{Cite book |last1=Orton |title=The Colorful Coast: An Illustrated History of Newport Beach & Harbor |last2=Marsh |publisher=Heritage Media Corporation |year=1997 |pages=27}}{{Cite web |title=Indian Villages |url=https://www.ochistoryland.com/indian-villages |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=OC Historyland |language=en-US}} as an outpost "to watch over cattle and Indians." In 1827, missionaries considered whether to move their entire operation to the location.{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Patrick |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/909903029 |title=Santa Ana River Guide |date=2006 |others=Larry B. Van Dyke, Eva Dienel |isbn=978-0-89997-616-7 |edition=1st |location=Birmingham, Alabama |pages=219 |oclc=909903029}}

Like many surrounding Tongva and Acjachemen villages, the village declined with the growth of the missions, where Indigenous labor was exploited to construct mission facilities and tend to the mission's grounds. By the early nineteenth century, the village was being depleted and may have been occupied until 1829 or 1830.{{Cite journal |date=2002 |title=Southern California Indian Curriculum Guide |url=http://www.tongvapeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Bowers-Curriculum-Guide.pdf |journal=The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art |pages=18}} Yet, the place name carried forward in the nineteenth century, with the bay being labeled the bolsa de gengara, an alternative spelling of the village, on an 1853 map.

Human remains from the village were uncovered in the 2010s. Although Tongva and Acjachemen people campaigned to stop the development of a site where six hundred of their ancestors' remains were found, their attempt failed.{{Cite web |last=Welsh |first=Terry |date=2015-12-16 |title=Welsh: Coastal Commission Banning Ranch Hearings in January Need to Hear from OC |url=http://voiceofoc.org/2015/12/welsh-coastal-comish-banning-ranch-hearings-in-january-need-to-hear-from-oc/ |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=Voice of OC |language=en-US}} The remains were moved from the original burial site, which now sits under a parking lot next to a bank, to a dirt lot about a half-mile away. Lack of federal recognition of the Tongva and Acjachemen prevents them from controlling their ancestral remains and artifacts.{{Cite web |title=Tongva Nation Continues Fighting for Federal Recognition – Pasadena Now |url=https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/tongva-nation-continues-fighting-for-federal-recognition |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=www.pasadenanow.com}}{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Jerry |title=Pending recognition decision for Juaneno stirs waters in Washington lobbying pool |url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/pending-recognition-decision-for-juaneno-stirs-waters-in-washington-lobbying-pool-2 |access-date=2022-12-21 |newspaper=Ict News |language=en}}

In 2013, the city of Costa Mesa may have approved plans to construct over a site near the village location in nearby Fairview Park, despite archaeologists and Indigenous people speaking against further development in the area given the significance of the site, as well as its listing on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.{{Cite web |date=2013-09-29 |title=Archaeologists say Fairview Park work might hurt site |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2013/09/29/archaeologists-say-fairview-park-work-might-hurt-site/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Orange County Register |language=en-US}} There were further concerns that the archaeological survey was being conducted by the Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc. (SRS), which has a poor track record in the area for preserving Tongva village sites, being fined $600,000 for digging trenches into a 9,000 year old village site in Bolsa Chica in 2001.{{Cite web |date=2013-10-09 |title=Survey of park to determine burial-ground limits |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2013/10/09/survey-of-park-to-determine-burial-ground-limits/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Orange County Register |language=en-US}}

Banning Ranch, part of the site of Genga, which had been a large coastal oil field since 1943, may be transformed into a public open space as of 2022 after many years of organizing to preserve the site both as green space for the city as well as for historic preservation.{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Angelina |date=2022-06-14 |title=Banning Ranch is One Step Closer to Becoming Preserved Open Space |url=http://voiceofoc.org/2022/06/banning-ranch-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-preserved-open-space/ |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=Voice of OC |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=History – BRC |url=https://www.banningranchconservancy.org/banning-ranch-history/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |language=en-US}} City leaders of the project have said that "tribal descendants of the area’s earliest residents will also have a voice" in how the park is developed.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-26 |title=Purchase of Banning Ranch for preserved natural space is fully funded |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2022/05/26/purchase-of-banning-ranch-for-preserved-natural-space-is-fully-funded |access-date=2022-12-11 |website=Orange County Register |language=en-US}}

Achachemen villages in Orange County, California

• Acjacheme
• Alauna
• Piwiva
• Putiidhem

Tongva villages in Orange County, California

• Hutuknga
• Lupukngna
• Moyongna
• Pajbenga
• Pamajam
• Totpavit

{{Tongva villages}}

{{Indigenous peoples of California}}

{{Newport Beach, California}}

• "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as08qgA3sTE&t=2s&ab_channel=Cobalt Help save Genga (Banning Ranch), a sacred site for the Acjachemen and Tongva Nations]" (2016)

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Category:Tongva populated places

Category:History of Orange County, California

Category:Former Native American populated places in California

Category:Newport Beach, California