Rancho de la Nación was a 26,632-acre (107.78 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day southern San Diego County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to John (Don Juan) Forster.
[1] The grant encompassed present-day National City, Chula Vista, Bonita, Sunnyside and the western Sweetwater Valley.
[2] Known as the Rancho del Rey (Ranch of the King) under Spain, this land south of the Presidio of San Diego served since 1795 as a presidial cattle grazing ground.
[4][5] With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.
[8] In 1854, Forster sold Rancho de la Nación to François Louis Alfred Pioche (1818–1872), a San Francisco financier.