Almost 100% of Spanish-speaking Californians have come in the past 50-70 years. Basically none have historical roots to California.
What is known as the American state of California was part of the state of Alta California in Mexico, which was annexed by the US during the Mexican American war.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_California
Years later, the Mexicans as well as their descendants, who were Americans by Jus soli (birthright citizenship) were ethnically cleansed during the Mexican Repatriation, where they were kidnapped, put into buses and trucks and sent to Mexico.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Repatriation
Many Mexicans are mestizos (mixed with Native Americans), so they have a deeper connection to the land dating to tens of thousands of years and this is reflected in the population genetic haplogroups.
I am talking about at time of annexation, 1847.
Parent comment is mostly correct, californios are an insignificant part of California in comparison to eg Tejanos.
>Almost 100% of Spanish-speaking Californians have come in the past 50-70 years. Basically none have historical roots to California.
Correct. I go into more detail on why this is the case elsewhere. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38415835>
source: a group that still does this, and has land near Mt Shasta too