Kumeyaay natives lived in the San Diego region long before Juan Cabrillo sailed his Spanish galleon into San Diego Bay. By 1542, the Kumeyaay were settled throughout San Diego County, as well as Im… ...

There are fewer than 100 fluent speakers of Kumeyaay left in Southern California and northern Baja California, where they once dominated. Efforts are now underway to preserve the endangered language.

The Kumeyaay language is facing a critical threat of extinction, as reported by the Atlas of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico. The 2020 census revealed that there are only 381 remaining speakers.