Malibu's first residents were the Chumash Indians.
Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo reports seeing a large Indian village at the foot of the canyon.

The first legal claim to land in Malibu was made in 1802 by Spanish settler Jose Bartoleme Tapia. Tapia started a ranch and built a large adobe in Malibu Canyon. The area became known as Ranch Topanga Malibu Simi Sequit.

Pepperdine University