Ohlone period of
Ohlone people have inhabited the area for centuries. Long before the arrival of Spanish explorers, the
Rumsen Ohlone tribe, one of seven linguistically distinct Ohlone groups in California, inhabited the area now known as Monterey.
Ohlone villages in the area included Ichxenta (
Point Lobos), Calendaruc, Wacharon (
Moss Landing), and Rumsien (
Carmel-by-the-Sea), among others. They subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering food on and around the biologically rich
Monterey Peninsula. Researchers have found a number of shell
middens in the area and, based on the archaeological evidence, concluded the Ohlone's primary marine food consisted of various types of
mussels and
abalone. A number of midden sites have been located along about of rocky coast on the Monterey Peninsula from the current site of Fishermans' Wharf in Monterey to Carmel.
Spanish period , namesake of
Monterey Bay, and thus the city and county The city is named after
Monterey Bay. The bay's name was given by
Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602. He anchored in what is now Monterey harbor on December 16, and named it
Puerto de Monterrey, in honor of the
Conde de Monterrey, then the viceroy of
New Spain. Monterrey is an alternate spelling of
Monterrei, a municipality in the
Galicia region of
Spain from which the viceroy and his father (the Fourth Count of Monterrei) originated. Some variants of the city's name are recorded as Monte Rey and Monterey. Monterey Bay had been described earlier by
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo as La Bahia de los Pinos (Bay of the Pines). Despite Monterey's limited use as a maritime port, the encroachments of other Europeans near California in the 18th century prompted the Spanish monarchy to try to better secure the region. As a result, it commissioned the Portola exploration and Alta California mission system. In 1769, the first European land exploration of
Alta California, the Spanish
Portolá expedition, traveled north from
San Diego. They sought Vizcaíno's Port of Monterey, which he had described as "a fine harbor sheltered from all winds" 167 years earlier. The explorers failed to recognize the place when they came to it on October 1, 1769. The party continued north as far as
San Francisco Bay before turning back. On the return journey, they camped near one of Monterey's lagoons on November 27, still not convinced they had found the place Vizcaíno had described.
Franciscan missionary
Juan Crespí noted in his diary, "We halted in sight of the Point of Pines (recognized, as was said, in the beginning of October) and camped near a small lagoon which has rather muddy water, but abounds in pasture and firewood." celebrating mass in Monterey in 1770.
Gaspar de Portolá returned by land to Monterey the next year, having concluded that he must have been at Vizcaíno's Port of Monterey after all. The land party was met at Monterey by
Junípero Serra, who traveled by sea. Portolá erected the
Presidio of Monterey to defend the port and, on June 3, 1770, Serra founded the Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo inside the presidio enclosure. Portolá returned to Mexico, replaced in Monterey by Captain
Pedro Fages, who had been third in command on the exploratory expeditions. Fages became the second governor of Alta California, serving from 1770 to 1774. was built in 1771 by
Pedro Fages, on a site selected by
Miguel Costansó in 1770. Serra's missionary aims soon came into conflict with Fages and the soldiers, so he relocated and built a new mission in
Carmel the next year to gain greater independence from Fages. The existing wood and
adobe church remained in service to the nearby soldiers and became the
Royal Presidio Chapel. Monterey became the capital of the "Province of Both Californias" in 1777, and the chapel was renamed the
Royal Presidio Chapel. The original church was destroyed by fire in 1789 and replaced by the present
sandstone structure. It was completed in 1794 by Indian labor. In 1840, the chapel was rededicated to the patronage of
Saint Charles Borromeo. The cathedral is the oldest continuously operating parish and the oldest stone building in California. It is also the oldest (and smallest) serving cathedral along with
St. Louis Cathedral in
New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only existing presidio chapel in California and the only surviving building from the original Monterey Presidio. from 1770 until 1849, hosting its only official port-of-entry and the
provincial legislature. The city was originally the only port of entry for all taxable goods in California. All shipments into California by sea were required to go through the
Custom House, the oldest governmental building in the state and California's Historic Landmark Number One. Built in three phases, the Spanish began construction of the Custom House in 1814, the Mexican government completed the center section in 1827, and the United States government finished the lower end in 1846.
Argentine raid and occupation On November 24, 1818,
Argentine corsair Hippolyte Bouchard landed approximately from the
Presidio of Monterey, using a hidden
tidal creek to conceal his approach. Operating under a letter of marque from the
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Bouchard carried out the expedition as part of Argentina’s broader efforts to disrupt Spanish colonial control during the South American wars of independence. The Spanish garrison offered minimal resistance, and after roughly an hour of combat, Bouchard’s forces succeeded in capturing the fort. The
Argentine flag was then raised over Monterey, marking a symbolic assertion of Argentine presence on the Pacific coast of North America. Although the Spanish flag had long flown there as part of colonial rule, this event marked the first time an independent foreign nation had occupied and hoisted its flag in California preceding both the
Mexican and
United States flags. Bouchard’s forces occupied Monterey for six days. During the occupation, they seized livestock and supplies, and set fire to several strategic buildings, including the fort, the artillery headquarters, the governor’s residence, and various Spanish colonial homes. Despite the destruction of infrastructure, the civilian population was not harmed. After achieving their objectives, the Argentines withdrew and continued their privateering
campaign along the Pacific coast.
Mexican period established his Monterey
print shop in 1834, becoming California's first publisher. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, but the civil and religious institutions of Alta California remained much the same until the 1830s, when the
secularization of the missions converted most of the mission pasture lands into private land grant
ranchos. In 1834, the
San Carlos Cemetery was officially opened and
interred many of the early local families.
Agustín V. Zamorano established the first print shop in California, when he brought a
printing press to Monterey, in the summer of 1834. During the Mexican period, the city was determined the site of District Court of the Territory of Alta California (
Juzgado de Distrito del Territorio de la Alta California), since 1834, when Luis del Castillo Negrete, the appointed district judge (Juez de Distrito), took possession of the court; until 1836, when due to the rebellion led by
Juan Bautista Alvarado, the judge left the city for the territory of Baja California, which
de facto disqualified that instance and would close definitively until 1841, with a decree by
Antonio López de Santa Anna. Subsequently, in 1842, the Superior Court (
Superior Tribunal de Justicia del Departamento de las Californias) was installed, which had a short life, as it stopped functioning in 1845. Monterey was the site of the
Battle of Monterey on July 7, 1846, during the
Mexican–American War. It was on this date that
John D. Sloat, Commodore in the
United States Navy, raised the
U.S. flag over the Monterey Custom House and claimed California for the United States. In addition, many historic "firsts" occurred in Monterey. These include
First theater in California, brick house, publicly funded school, public building, public library, and printing press (which printed
The Californian, California's first newspaper.) Larkin House, one of
Monterey State Historic Park's
National Historic Landmarks, built in the Mexican period by
Thomas Oliver Larkin, is an early example of
Monterey Colonial architecture. The
Old Custom House, the historic district and the Royal Presidio Chapel are also National Historic Landmarks. The Cooper-Molera Adobe is a
National Trust Historic Site.
American period , part of the
U.S. conquest of California, resulted in American forces capturing the capital of Mexican California.
Colton Hall, built in 1849 by
Walter Colton, originally served as both a public school and a government meeting place. It hosted the
1849 Constitutional Convention, where American and
Californio delegates drafted the first
Constitution of California, in both English and Spanish. Monterey hosted California's first constitutional convention in 1849, which composed the documents necessary to apply to the United States for
statehood. Today Colton Hall houses a small museum, while adjacent buildings serve as the seat of local government, and the Monterey post office (opened in 1849). Monterey was incorporated in 1890. Monterey had long been famous for the abundant fishery in Monterey Bay. That changed in the 1950s when the local fishery business collapsed due to
overfishing. A few of the old fishermen's cabins from the early 20th century have been preserved as they originally stood along
Cannery Row. The city has a noteworthy history as a center for California painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Such painters as
Arthur Frank Mathews,
Armin Hansen,
Xavier Martinez,
Rowena Meeks Abdy and
Percy Gray lived or visited to pursue painting in the style of either
En plein air or
Tonalism. was once one of the most productive fish canning hubs in the world, until its collapse in the 1950s due to overfishing. Many noted authors have also lived in and around Monterey, including
Robert Louis Stevenson,
John Steinbeck,
Ed Ricketts,
Robinson Jeffers,
Robert A. Heinlein, and
Henry Miller. More recently, Monterey has been recognized for its significant involvement in post-secondary learning of languages other than English and its major role in delivering translation and interpretation services around the world. In November 1995, California Governor
Pete Wilson proclaimed Monterey "the Language Capital of the World". On June 7, 2021, the
macOS Monterey operating system was presented at Apple's
Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC2021) and named after the Monterey region. ==Geography==