Испанские миссии в Калифорнии

Часть серии по
Испанские миссии в Америке в католической церкви
Миссии в Северной Америке
Аризона Нижняя Калифорния Калифорния Каролины Флорида Грузия Луизиана Мексика Нью-Мексико Керетаро Пустыня Сонора Техас Тринидад Вирджиния
Миссии в Южной Америке
Chiloé Chiquitos Кордова Итапуа Науэль Хуапи Майнас Парагвай Рио Буэно
похожие темы
Грузовая система Миссия индейцев Скидки Анды Иезуит
Портал католицизма
v т е

В испанских миссий в Калифорнии ( испанский язык : Мисионес Españolas ан Калифорния ) включают серию из 21 религиозных форпостов или миссий , созданных между 1769 и 1833 в том, что в настоящее время США , штат Калифорния . Основанная католических священников в францисканский для того , чтобы благовествовать о коренных американцев , миссии привели к созданию Новой Испании провинции Альта Калифорния и были частью расширения Испанской империи в самых северных и западных районах испанской Северной Америки .

Следуя долгосрочной светской и религиозной политике Испании в Испанской Америке, миссионеры вынудили коренных калифорнийцев жить в поселениях, называемых сокращениями , ^[3] нарушив их традиционный образ жизни. Миссионеры познакомили с европейскими фруктами, овощами, скотом, лошадьми, скотоводством и технологиями. Значительное сокращение индейского населения произошло в основном за счет распространения европейских болезней. В конце концов, миссии дали неоднозначные результаты по своим целям: обратить, обучить, развить и преобразовать коренные народы в испанских подданных.

К 1810 году король Испании был заключен в тюрьму французами, и финансирование военных расчетов и миссий в Калифорнии прекратилось. ^[4] В 1821 году Мексика получила независимость от Испании, хотя Мексика не отправляла губернатора в Калифорнию до 1824 года, и только часть фонда заработной платы была восстановлена ​​(там же). В то время 21000 индейцев-миссионеров производили шкуры, жир, шерсть и текстиль, а изделия из кожи экспортировались в Бостон, Южную Америку и Азию. Эта торговая система поддерживала колониальную экономику с 1810 по 1830 год. Миссии начали терять контроль над землей в 1820-х годах, когда неофициально вторглись неоплачиваемые военные, но официально миссии сохранили власть над местными неофитами.и контроль земельных владений до 1830-х годов. На пике своего развития в 1832 году система прибрежных миссий контролировала территорию, равную примерно одной шестой площади Альта Калифорния. ^[5] Правительство штата Калифорния секуляризовало миссии после принятия мексиканского закона о секуляризации 1833 года . Это разделило земли миссии на земельные гранты, фактически узаконив и завершив передачу земель индийских общин военным командирам и их наиболее преданным людям; они стали многими ранчо Калифорнии .

Сохранившиеся здания миссий являются старейшими сооружениями штата и его наиболее посещаемыми историческими памятниками. Они стали символом Калифорнии, появляясь во многих фильмах и телешоу, и служат источником вдохновения для архитектуры Mission Revival . Старейшие города Калифорнии сформировались вокруг испанских миссий или рядом с ними, включая четыре крупнейших: Лос-Анджелес , Сан-Диего , Сан-Хосе и Сан-Франциско .

Планирование, структура и культура миссии в Альте Калифорния [ править ]

Цепочка прибрежных миссий, планирование и обзор [ править ]

До 1754 года земельные участки под миссии предоставлялись непосредственно испанской короной. Но, учитывая удаленность и присущие им трудности в общении с правительствами территорий, власть была передана наместникам Новой Испании для предоставления земель и создания миссий в Северной Америке. ^[6] Планы миссий в Альта-Калифорнии были составлены во времена правления короля Карла III и, по крайней мере частично, стали ответом на недавние наблюдения русских торговцев пушниной вдоль побережья Калифорнии в середине 1700-х годов. ^[7] Миссии должны были быть соединены сухопутным маршрутом, который позже стал известен как Camino Real . Детальное планирование и руководство миссией должно было осуществляться монахом Хуниперо Серра., OFM (который в 1767 году вместе со своими собратьями- священниками взял под свой контроль группу миссий на полуострове Нижняя Калифорния, ранее находившаяся под управлением иезуитов).

Преподобный Фермин Франсиско де Ласуэн приступил к работе Серры и основал еще девять миссий с 1786 по 1798 год; другие установили последние три комплекса, а также по крайней мере пять асистенций (форпостов помощи при выполнении миссии). ^[8]

Отложены планы дополнительных цепочек миссий [ править ]

Работа над прибрежной цепочкой миссий была завершена в 1823 году, завершена после смерти Серры в 1784 году. Планы по строительству двадцать второй миссии в Санта-Розе в 1827 году были отменены. ^{[примечания 1]}

Преподобный Педро Estevan TAPIS предложил создать миссию на одном из Нормандских островов в Тихом океане у Сан - Педро - Харбор в 1784 году, либо с Санта - Каталина или Санта Круз (известный как Лиму к Tongva жителей) является наиболее вероятных мест, то Причина в том, что оффшорная миссия могла привлечь к обращению потенциальных людей, которые не жили на материке, и могла быть эффективной мерой для ограничения операций по контрабанде. ^[9] Губернатор Хосе Хоакин де Аррильяга одобрил план в следующем году, однако вспышка сарампиона (корь ), в результате чего погибло около 200 жителей Тонгва, в сочетании с нехваткой земли для сельского хозяйства и питьевой воды, успех такого предприятия оставался под сомнением, поэтому никаких усилий по созданию островной миссии предпринято не было.

В сентябре 1821 года преподобный Мариано Пайерас, « Комисарио Префекто » миссий Калифорнии, посетил Каньяда-де-Санта-Исабель к востоку от Миссии Сан-Диего-де-Алькала в рамках плана по созданию целой цепочки внутренних миссий. Санта Ysabel Asistencia был основан в 1818 году как миссия «мать», тем не менее, план расширяющихся за не был реализован.

Места миссии, выбор и расположение [ править ]

Помимо президио (королевского форта) и пуэбло (города), мисион был одним из трех основных агентств, нанятых испанским сувереном для расширения своих границ и консолидации своих колониальных территорий. Asistencias («вспомогательные» или «вспомогательные» миссии, иногда называемые «вспомогательными часовнями») были небольшими миссиями, которые регулярно проводили мессу в дни обязательств, но не имели постоянного священника; ^{[10] Как и} в случае с миссиями, эти поселения обычно основывались в районах с высокой концентрацией потенциальных местных новообращенных. ^[11]Испанские калифорнийцы никогда не отходили от побережья при создании своих поселений; Миссия «Нуэстра-Сеньора-де-ла-Соледад» находилась на самом дальнем краю, всего в тридцати милях (48 километрах) от берега. ^[12] Каждая пограничная станция была вынуждена быть самоокупаемой, поскольку существующие средства снабжения были недостаточны для содержания колонии любого размера. Калифорния находилась в нескольких месяцах от ближайшей базы в колонизированной Мексике, а грузовые корабли того времени были слишком малы, чтобы нести в своих трюмах пайки больше, чем на несколько месяцев . Чтобы поддерживать миссию, падре требовалось, чтобы обращенные в веру коренные американцы , называемые неофитами , возделывали урожай и ухаживали запоголовье в объеме, необходимом для содержания крупного предприятия. Дефицит импортных материалов, а также отсутствие квалифицированных рабочих вынудили миссионеров использовать простые строительные материалы и методы при строительстве миссионерских построек.

Хотя миссии рассматривались испанской иерархией как временное мероприятие , создание индивидуального поселения не было просто делом «священнической прихоти». Основание миссии следовало давним правилам и процедурам; оформление документов требовало месяцев, а иногда и лет переписки и требовало внимания практически на всех уровнях бюрократии. Получив полномочия возвести миссию в данном районе, люди, назначенные для нее, выбирали конкретное место с хорошим водоснабжением, большим количеством дров для костров и строительных материалов, а также просторными полями для выпаса стада и выращивания сельскохозяйственных культур . Падре благословили это место и с помощью своих военныхэскорт создавал временные убежища из ветвей деревьев или забитых кольев, покрытых соломой или тростником ( каньяс ). Именно эти простые хижины в конечном итоге уступили место существующим до настоящего времени каменным и глиняным постройкам.

Первым приоритетом при создании поселения было расположение и строительство церкви ( Иглесия ). Большинство миссионерских святилищ были ориентированы примерно по оси восток-запад, чтобы наилучшим образом использовать положение солнца для внутреннего освещения ; точное выравнивание зависело от географических особенностей конкретного сайта. После того, как место для церкви было выбрано, ее положение было отмечено, а оставшаяся часть миссионерского комплекса была выложена. В мастерских , кухни , жилые помещения, склады и другие вспомогательные камеры, как правило , группируются в виде четырехугольника , внутри которого религиозные праздники и другие праздничные события часто имели место. ВКуадрангуло редко был идеальным квадратом, потому что миссионеры не имели в своем распоряжении геодезических инструментов и просто измеряли все размеры футами. В некоторых фантастических отчетах, касающихся строительства миссий, утверждалось, что в проект были включены туннели, которые будут использоваться в качестве средства аварийного выхода в случае нападения; однако никаких исторических свидетельств (письменных или физических), подтверждающих эти утверждения, никогда не было обнаружено. ^{[13] [примечания 2]}

Францисканцы и местный призыв [ править ]

Миссии в Альта-Калифорнии, известные как редукции ( reducciones ) или конгрегации ( congregaciones ), были поселениями, основанными испанскими колонизаторами Нового Света с целью полной ассимиляции коренного населения в европейскую культуру и католическую религию. Это была доктрина основана в 1531 году, которая на основе права испанского государства над землей и людьми из Индии на папском заряд евангелизации их. Он использовался там, где коренное население еще не было сосредоточено в коренных пуэбло.. Indians were congregated around the mission proper through forced resettlement, in which the Spanish "reduced" them from what they perceived to be a free "undisciplined'" state with the ambition of converting them into "civilized" members of colonial society.^[18] The civilized and disciplined culture of the natives, developed over 8,000 years, was not considered. A total of 146 Friars Minor, mostly Spaniards by birth, were ordained as priests and served in California between 1769 and 1845. Sixty-seven missionaries died at their posts (two as martyrs: Padres Luis Jayme and Andrés Quintana), while the remainder returned to Europe due to illness, or upon completing their ten-year service commitment.^[19] As the rules of the Franciscan Order forbade friars to live alone, two missionaries were assigned to each settlement, sequestered in the mission's convento.^[20] To these the governor assigned a guard of five or six soldiers under the command of a corporal, who generally acted as steward of the mission's temporal affairs, subject to the priests' direction.^[21]

Indians were initially attracted into the mission compounds by gifts of food, colored beads, bits of bright cloth, and trinkets. Once a Native American "gentile" was baptized, they were labeled a neophyte, or new believer. This happened only after a brief period during which the initiates were instructed in the most basic aspects of the Catholic faith. But, while many natives were lured to join the missions out of curiosity and sincere desire to participate and engage in trade, many found themselves trapped once they were baptized.^[22] On the other hand, Indians staffed the militias at each mission^[23] and had a role in mission governance.

To the padres, a baptized Indian person was no longer free to move about the country, but had to labor and worship at the mission under the strict observance of the priests and overseers, who herded them to daily masses and labors. If an Indian did not report for their duties for a period of a few days, they were searched for, and if it was discovered that they had left without permission, they were considered runaways. Large-scale military expeditions were organized to round up the escaped neophytes. Sometimes, the Franciscans allowed neophytes to escape the missions, or they would allow them to visit their home village. However, the Franciscans would only allow this so that they could secretly follow the neophytes. Upon arriving to the village and capturing the runaways, they would take back Indians to the missions, sometimes as many as 200 to 300 Indians.^[24]

On one occasion," writes Hugo Reid, "they went as far as the present Rancho del Chino, where they tied and whipped every man, woman and child in the lodge, and drove part of them back.... On the road they did the same with those of the lodge at San Jose. On arriving home the men were instructed to throw their bows and arrows at the feet of the priest, and make due submission. The infants were then baptized, as were also all children under eight years of age; the former were left with their mothers, but the latter kept apart from all communication with their parents. The consequence was, first, the women consented to the rite and received it, for the love they bore their children; and finally the males gave way for the purpose of enjoying once more the society of wife and family. Marriage was then performed, and so this contaminated race, in their own sight and that of their kindred, became followers of Christ.^[22]

A total of 20,355 natives were "attached" to the California missions in 1806 (the highest figure recorded during the Mission Period); under Mexican rule the number rose to 21,066 (in 1824, the record year during the entire era of the Franciscan missions).^{[25][notes 5]} During the entire period of Mission rule, from 1769 to 1834, the Franciscans baptized 53,600 adult Indians and buried 37,000. Dr. Cook estimates that 15,250 or 45% of the population decrease was caused by disease. Two epidemics of measles, one in 1806 and the other in 1828, caused many deaths. The mortality rates were so high that the missions were constantly dependent upon new conversions.^[22]

Young native women were required to reside in the monjerío (or "nunnery") under the supervision of a trusted Indian matron who bore the responsibility for their welfare and education. Women only left the convent after they had been "won" by an Indian suitor and were deemed ready for marriage. Following Spanish custom, courtship took place on either side of a barred window. After the marriage ceremony the woman moved out of the mission compound and into one of the family huts.^[27] These "nunneries" were considered a necessity by the priests, who felt the women needed to be protected from the men, both Indian and de razón ("instructed men", i.e. Europeans). The cramped and unsanitary conditions the girls lived in contributed to the fast spread of disease and population decline. So many died at times that many of the Indian residents of the missions urged the priests to raid new villages to supply them with more women. As of December 31, 1832 (the peak of the mission system's development) the mission padres had performed a combined total of 87,787 baptisms and 24,529 marriages, and recorded 63,789 deaths.^[28]

The neophytes were kept in well-guarded mission compounds. The policy of the Franciscans was to keep them constantly occupied.

Bells were vitally important to daily life at any mission. The bells were rung at mealtimes, to call the Mission residents to work and to religious services, during births and funerals, to signal the approach of a ship or returning missionary, and at other times; novices were instructed in the intricate rituals associated with the ringing the mission bells. The daily routine began with sunrise Mass and morning prayers, followed by instruction of the natives in the teachings of the Roman Catholic faith. After a generous (by era standards) breakfast of atole, the able-bodied men and women were assigned their tasks for the day. The women were committed to dressmaking, knitting, weaving, embroidering, laundering, and cooking, while some of the stronger girls ground flour or carried adobe bricks (weighing 55 lb, or 25 kg each) to the men engaged in building. The men worked a variety of jobs, having learned from the missionaries how to plow, sow, irrigate, cultivate, reap, thresh, and glean. In addition, they were taught to build adobe houses, tan leather hides, shear sheep, weave rugs and clothing from wool, make ropes, soap, paint, and other useful duties.

The work day was six hours, interrupted by dinner (lunch) around 11:00 a.m. and a two-hour siesta, and ended with evening prayers and the rosary, supper, and social activities. About 90 days out of each year were designated as religious or civil holidays, free from manual labor. The labor organization of the missions resembled a slave plantation in many respects.^{[30][notes 6]} Foreigners who visited the missions remarked at how the priests' control over the Indians appeared excessive, but necessary given the white men's isolation and numeric disadvantage.^{[31][notes 7]} Indians were not paid wages as they were not considered free laborers and, as a result, the missions were able to profit from the goods produced by the Mission Indians to the detriment of the other Spanish and Mexican settlers of the time who could not compete economically with the advantage of the mission system.^[32]

The Franciscans began to send neophytes to work as servants of Spanish soldiers in the presidios. Each presidio was provided with land, el rancho del rey, which served as a pasture for the presidio livestock and as a source of food for the soldiers. Theoretically the soldiers were supposed to work on this land themselves but within a few years the neophytes were doing all the work on the presidio farm and, in addition, were serving domestics for the soldiers. While the fiction prevailed that neophytes were to receive wages for their work, no attempt was made to collect the wages for these services after 1790. It is recorded that the neophytes performed the work "under unmitigated compulsion."^[22]

In recent years, much debate has arisen about the priests' treatment of the Indians during the Mission period, and many believe that the California mission system is directly responsible for the decline of the native cultures.^{[31][notes 8]} From the perspective of the Spanish priest, their efforts were a well-meaning attempt to improve the lives of the heathen natives.^{[33][notes 9][34][notes 10]}

The missionaries of California were by-and-large well-meaning, devoted men...[whose] attitudes toward the Indians ranged from genuine (if paternalistic) affection to wrathful disgust. They were ill-equipped—nor did most truly desire—to understand complex and radically different Native American customs. Using European standards, they condemned the Indians for living in a "wilderness," for worshipping false gods or no God at all, and for having no written laws, standing armies, forts, or churches.^[35]

Mission industries[edit]

The goal of the missions was, above all, to become self-sufficient in relatively short order. Farming, therefore, was the most important industry of any mission. Barley, maize, and wheat were among the most common crops grown. Cereal grains were dried and ground by stone into flour. Even today, California is well known for the abundance and many varieties of fruit trees that are cultivated throughout the state. The only fruits indigenous to the region, however, consisted of wild berries or grew on small bushes. Spanish missionaries brought fruit seeds over from Europe, many of which had been introduced from Asia following earlier expeditions to the continent; orange, grape, apple, peach, pear, and fig seeds were among the most prolific of the imports. Grapes were also grown and fermented into wine for sacramental use and again, for trading. The specific variety, called the Criolla or Mission grape, was first planted at Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1779; in 1783, the first wine produced in Alta California emerged from the mission's winery. Ranching also became an important mission industry as cattle and sheep herds were raised.

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel unknowingly witnessed the origin of the California citrus industry with the planting of the region's first significant orchard in 1804, though the commercial potential of citrus was not realized until 1841.^[36] Olives (first cultivated at Mission San Diego de Alcalá) were grown, cured, and pressed under large stone wheels to extract their oil, both for use at the mission and to trade for other goods. The Rev. Serra set aside a portion of the Mission Carmel gardens in 1774 for tobacco plants, a practice that soon spread throughout the mission system.^{[37][notes 11]}

It was also the missions' responsibility to provide the Spanish forts, or presidios, with the necessary foodstuffs, and manufactured goods to sustain operations. It was a constant point of contention between missionaries and the soldiers as to how many fanegas^[38] of barley, or how many shirts or blankets the mission had to provide the garrisons on any given year. At times these requirements were hard to meet, especially during years of drought, or when the much anticipated shipments from the port of San Blas failed to arrive. The Spaniards kept meticulous records of mission activities, and each year reports submitted to the Father-Presidente summarizing both the material and spiritual status at each of the settlements.

Livestock was raised, not only for the purpose of obtaining meat, but also for wool, leather, and tallow, and for cultivating the land. In 1832, at the height of their prosperity, the missions collectively owned:

• 151,180 head of cattle;
• 137,969 sheep;
• 14,522 horses;
• 1,575 mules or burros;
• 1,711 goats; and
• 1,164 swine.^[39]

All these grazing animals were originally brought up from Mexico. A great many Indians were required to guard the herds and flocks on the mission ranches, which created the need for "...a class of horsemen scarcely surpassed anywhere."^[21] These animals multiplied beyond the settler's expectations, often overrunning pastures and extending well-beyond the domains of the missions. The giant herds of horses and cows took well to the climate and the extensive pastures of the Coastal California region, but at a heavy price for the California Native American people. The uncontrolled spread of these new herds, and associated invasive exotic plant species, quickly exhausted the native plants in the grasslands,^[40] and the chaparral and woodlands that the Indians depended on for their seed, foliage, and bulb harvests. The grazing-overgrazing problems were also recognized by the Spaniards, who periodically had extermination parties cull and kill thousands of excess livestock, when herd populations grew beyond their control or the land's capacity. Years with a severe drought did this also.

Mission kitchens and bakeries prepared and served thousands of meals each day. Candles, soap, grease, and ointments were all made from tallow (rendered animal fat) in large vats located just outside the west wing. Also situated in this general area were vats for dyeing wool and tanning leather, and primitive looms for weaving. Large bodegas (warehouses) provided long-term storage for preserved foodstuffs and other treated materials.

Each mission had to fabricate virtually all of its construction materials from local materials. Workers in the carpintería (carpentry shop) used crude methods to shape beams, lintels, and other structural elements; more skilled artisans carved doors, furniture, and wooden implements. For certain applications bricks (ladrillos) were fired in ovens (kilns) to strengthen them and make them more resistant to the elements; when tejas (roof tiles) eventually replaced the conventional jacal roofing (densely packed reeds) they were placed in the kilns to harden them as well. Glazed ceramic pots, dishes, and canisters were also made in mission kilns.

Prior to the establishment of the missions, the native peoples knew only how to utilize bone, seashells, stone, and wood for building, tool making, weapons, and so forth. The missionaries established manual training in European skills and methods; in agriculture, mechanical arts, and the raising and care of livestock. Everything consumed and otherwise utilized by the natives was produced at the missions under the supervision of the padres; thus, the neophytes not only supported themselves, but after 1811 sustained the entire military and civil government of California.^[41] The foundry at Mission San Juan Capistrano was the first to introduce the Indians to the Iron Age. The blacksmith used the mission's forges (California's first) to smelt and fashion iron into everything from basic tools and hardware (such as nails) to crosses, gates, hinges, even cannon for mission defense. Iron in particular was a commodity that the mission acquired solely through trade, as the missionaries had neither the know-how nor technology to mine and process metal ores.

No study of the missions is complete without mention of their extensive water supply systems. Stone zanjas (aqueducts, sometimes spanning miles, brought fresh water from a nearby river or spring to the mission site. Open or covered lined ditches and/or baked clay pipes, joined together with lime mortar or bitumen, gravity-fed the water into large cisterns and fountains, and emptied into waterways where the force of the water was used to turn grinding wheels and other simple machinery, or dispensed for use in cleaning. Water used for drinking and cooking was allowed to trickle through alternate layers of sand and charcoal to remove the impurities. One of the best-preserved mission water systems is at Mission Santa Barbara.^[42]

History[edit]

Beginning in 1492 with the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the Kingdom of Spain sought to establish missions to convert indigenous people in Nueva España (New Spain), which consisted of the Caribbean, Mexico, and most of what is now the Southwestern United States) to Roman Catholicism. This would facilitate colonization of these lands awarded to Spain by the Catholic Church, including that region later known as Alta California.^{[notes 12][notes 13][43][notes 14]}

Early Spanish exploration[edit]

Only 48 years after Columbus discovered the Americas for Europe, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado set out from Compostela, New Spain on February 23, 1540, at the head of a large expedition. Accompanied by 400 European men-at-arms (mostly Spaniards), 1,300 to 2,000 Mexican Indian allies, several Indian and African slaves, and four Franciscan friars, he traveled from Mexico through parts of the southwestern United States to present-day Kansas between 1540 and 1542.^[44][45] Two years later on 27 June 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo set out from Navidad, Mexico and sailed up the coast of Baja California and into the region of Alta California.^[46]

Secret English claims[edit]

Unknown to Spain, Sir Francis Drake, an English privateer who raided Spanish treasure ships and colonial settlements, claimed the Alta California region as Nova Albion for the English Crown in 1579, a full generation before the first English landing in Jamestown in 1607. During his circumnavigation of the world, Drake anchored in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, establishing friendly relations with the Coastal Miwok and claiming the territory for Queen Elizabeth I. However, Drake sailed back to England and England (and later Britain) never pressed for any sort of claim regarding the region.^{[47][48][49][50]}

Russian exploration[edit]

However, it wasn't until 1741 that the Spanish monarchy of King Philip V was stimulated to consider how to protect his claims to Alta California. Philip was spurred on when the territorial ambitions of Tsarist Russia were expressed in the Vitus Bering expedition along the western coast on the North American continent.^{[51][52][notes 15][53][notes 16]}

Spanish expansion[edit]

California represents the "high-water mark" of Spanish expansion in North America as the last and northernmost colony on the continent.^[54] The mission system arose in part from the need to control Spain's ever-expanding holdings in the New World. Realizing that the colonies required a literate population base that the mother country could not supply, the Spanish government (with the cooperation of the Church) established a network of missions to convert the indigenous population to Christianity. They aimed to make converts and tax-paying citizens of those they conquered.^{[34][notes 17]} To make them into Spanish citizens and productive inhabitants, the Spanish government and the Church required the indigenous people to learn Spanish language and vocational skills along with Christian teachings.^[55]

Estimates for the pre-contact indigenous population in California are based on a number of different sources and vary substantially, from 133,000,^[56] to 225,000,^[57] to as high as 705,000 from more than 100 separate tribes or nations.^{[58][59][notes 18][notes 19]}

On January 29, 1767, Spain's King Charles III ordered the new governor Gaspar de Portolá to forcibly expel the Jesuits, who operated under the authority of the Pope and had established a chain of fifteen missions on the Baja California Peninsula.^{[60][notes 20]} Visitador General José de Gálvez engaged the Franciscans, under the leadership of Friar Junípero Serra, to take charge of those outposts on March 12, 1768.^[61] The padres closed or consolidated several of the existing settlements, and also founded Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá (the only Franciscan mission in all of Baja California) and the nearby Visita de la Presentación in 1769. This plan, however, changed within a few months after Gálvez received the following orders: "Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of Spain."^[62] The Church ordered the priests of the Dominican Order to take charge of the Baja California missions so the Franciscans could concentrate on founding new missions in Alta California.

Mission period (1769–1833)[edit]

On July 14, 1769 Gálvez sent the Portolá expedition out from Loreto to explore lands to the north. Leader Gaspar de Portolá was accompanied by a group of Franciscans led by Junípero Serra. Serra's plan was to extend the string of missions north from the Baja California peninsula, connected by an established road and spaced a day's travel apart. The first Alta California mission and presidio were founded at San Diego, the second at Monterey.^[64]

En route to Monterey, the Rev. Francisco Gómez and the Rev. Juan Crespí came across a Native settlement wherein two young girls were dying: one, a baby, said to be "dying at its mother's breast," the other a small girl suffering of burns. On July 22, Gómez baptized the baby, naming her Maria Magdalena, while Crespí baptized the older child, naming her Margarita. These were the first recorded baptisms in Alta California.^[65] Crespi dubbed the spot Los Cristianos.^{[63][notes 21]} The group continued northward but missed Monterey Harbor and returned to San Diego on January 24, 1770. Near the end of 1769 the Portolá expedition had reached its most northerly point at present-day San Francisco. In following years, the Spanish Crown sent a number of follow-up expeditions to explore more of Alta California.

Spain also settled the California region with a number of African and mulatto Catholics, including at least ten of the recently re-discovered Los Pobladores, the founders of Los Angeles in 1781.^[66]

Structure[edit]

Each mission was to be turned over to a secular clergy and all the common mission lands distributed amongst the native population within ten years after its founding, a policy that was based upon Spain's experience with the more advanced tribes in Mexico, Central America, and Peru.^[68] In time, it became apparent to the Rev. Serra and his associates that the natives on the northern frontier in Alta California required a much longer period of acclimatization.^[21] None of the California missions ever attained complete self-sufficiency, and required continued (albeit modest) financial support from mother Spain.^[69] Mission development was therefore financed out of El Fondo Piadoso de las Californias (The Pious Fund of the Californias, which originated in 1697 and consisted of voluntary donations from individuals and religious bodies in Mexico to members of the Society of Jesus) to enable the missionaries to propagate the Catholic Faith in the area then known as California. Starting with the onset of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810, this support largely disappeared, and missions and converts were left on their own. As of 1800, native labor had made up the backbone of the colonial economy.^[70]

Arguably "the worst epidemic of the Spanish Era in California" was known to be the measles epidemic of 1806, wherein one-quarter of the mission Native American population of the San Francisco Bay Area died of the measles or related complications between March and May of that year.^[71] In 1811, the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico sent an interrogatorio (questionnaire) to all of the missions in Alta California regarding the customs, disposition, and condition of the Mission Indians.^[72] The replies, which varied greatly in the length, spirit, and even the value of the information contained therein, were collected and prefaced by the Father-Presidente with a short general statement or abstract; the compilation was thereupon forwarded to the viceregal government.^{[73][notes 22]} The contemporary nature of the responses, no matter how incomplete or biased some may be, are nonetheless of considerable value to modern ethnologists.

Russian colonization of the Americas reached its southernmost point with the 1812 establishment of Fort Ross (krepost' rus), an agricultural, scientific, and fur-trading settlement located in present-day Sonoma County, California.^[75] In November and December 1818, several of the missions were attacked by Hipólito Bouchard, "California's only pirate."^{[notes 23]} A French privateer sailing under the flag of Argentina, Pirata Buchar (as Bouchard was known to the locals) worked his way down the California coast, conducting raids on the installations at Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Juan Capistrano, with limited success.^[76] Upon hearing of the attacks, many mission priests (along with a few government officials) sought refuge at Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, the mission chain's most isolated outpost. Ironically, Mission Santa Cruz (though ultimately ignored by the marauders) was ignominiously sacked and vandalized by local residents who were entrusted with securing the church's valuables.^[77]

By 1819, Spain decided to limit its "reach" in the New World to Northern California due to the costs involved in sustaining these remote outposts; the northernmost settlement therefore is Mission San Francisco Solano, founded in Sonoma in 1823.^{[78][notes 24]} The Chumash people revolted against the Spanish presence in 1824. The Chumash planned a coordinated rebellion at three missions. Due to an incident with a soldier at Mission Santa Inés, the rebellion began on Saturday, February 21. The Chumash withdrew from Mission Santa Inés upon the arrival of military reinforcements, then attacked Mission La Purisima from inside, forced the garrison to surrender, and allowed the garrison, their families, and the mission priest to depart for Santa Inés. The next day, the Chumash of Mission Santa Barbara captured the mission from within without bloodshed, repelled a military attack on the mission, and then retreated from the mission to the hills. The Chumash continued to occupy Mission La Purisima until a Mexican military unit attacked people on March 16 and forced them to surrender. Two military expeditions were sent after the Chumash in the hills; the first did not find them and the second negotiated with the Chumash and convinced a majority to return to the missions by June 28.^[79]

An attempt to found a twenty-second mission in Santa Rosa in 1827 was aborted.^{[78][notes 25][notes 26][80][notes 27]} In 1833 the final group of missionaries arrived in Alta California. These were Mexican-born (rather than Spaniards), and had been trained at the Apostolic College of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Zacatecas. Among these friars was Francisco García Diego y Moreno, who would become the first bishop of the Diocese of Both Californias. These friars would bear the brunt of the changes brought on by secularization and the U.S. occupation, and many would be marked by allegations of corruption.^[81]

Secularization[edit]

As the Mexican republic matured, calls for the secularization ("disestablishment") of the missions increased.^{[82][notes 28]}

José María de Echeandía, the first native Mexican elected Governor of Alta California issued a "Proclamation of Emancipation" (or "Prevenciónes de Emancipacion") on July 25, 1826.^[83] All Indians within the military districts of San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Monterey who were found qualified were freed from missionary rule and made eligible to become Mexican citizens. Those who wished to remain under mission tutelage were exempted from most forms of corporal punishment.^{[84][85][notes 29]} By 1830 even the neophyte populations themselves appeared confident in their own abilities to operate the mission ranches and farms independently; the padres, however, doubted the capabilities of their charges in this regard.^[86]

Accelerating immigration, both Mexican and foreign, increased pressure on the Alta California government to seize the mission properties and dispossess the natives in accordance with Echeandía's directive.^{[87][notes 30]} Despite the fact that Echeandía's emancipation plan was met with little encouragement from the novices who populated the southern missions, he was nonetheless determined to test the scheme on a large scale at Mission San Juan Capistrano. To that end, he appointed a number of comisionados (commissioners) to oversee the emancipation of the Indians.^[88] The Mexican government passed legislation on December 20, 1827 that mandated the expulsion of all Spaniards younger than sixty years of age from Mexican territories; Governor Echeandía nevertheless intervened on behalf of some of the missionaries to prevent their deportation once the law took effect in California.^[89]

Governor José Figueroa (who took office in 1833) initially attempted to keep the mission system intact, but the Mexican Congress passed An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California on August 17, 1833 when liberal Valentín Gómez Farías was in office.^{[90][notes 31]}

The Act also provided for the colonization of both Alta and Baja California, the expenses of this latter move to be borne by the proceeds gained from the sale of the mission property to private interests.

Mission San Juan Capistrano was the very first to feel the effects of secularization when, on August 9, 1834 Governor Figueroa issued his "Decree of Confiscation."^[91] Nine other settlements quickly followed, with six more in 1835; San Buenaventura and San Francisco de Asís were among the last to succumb, in June and December 1836, respectively.^[92] The Franciscans soon thereafter abandoned most of the missions, taking with them almost everything of value, after which the locals typically plundered the mission buildings for construction materials. Former mission pasture lands were divided into large land grants called ranchos, greatly increasing the number of private land holdings in Alta California.

Rancho period (1834–1849)[edit]

In spite of this neglect, the Indian towns at San Juan Capistrano, San Dieguito, and Las Flores did continue on for some time under a provision in Gobernador Echeandía's 1826 Proclamation that allowed for the partial conversion of missions to pueblos.^[93] According to one estimate, the native population in and around the missions proper was approximately 80,000 at the time of the confiscation; others claim that the statewide population had dwindled to approximately 100,000 by the early 1840s, due in no small part to the natives' exposure to European diseases, and from the Franciscan practice of cloistering women in the convento and controlling sexuality during the child-bearing age. (Baja California Territory experienced a similar reduction in native population resulting from Spanish colonization efforts there).^[94]

Pío de Jesús Pico, the last Mexican Governor of Alta California, found upon taking office that there were few funds available to carry on the affairs of the province. He prevailed upon the assembly to pass a decree authorizing the renting or the sale of all mission property, reserving only the church, a curate's house, and a building for a courthouse. The expenses of conducting the services of the church were to be provided from the proceeds, but there was no disposition made as to what should be done to secure the funds for that purpose. After secularization, Father-Presidente Narciso Durán transferred the missions' headquarters to Santa Bárbara, thereby making Mission Santa Bárbara the repository of some 3,000 original documents that had been scattered through the California missions. The Mission archive is the oldest library in the State of California that still remains in the hands of its founders, the Franciscans (it is the only mission where they have maintained an uninterrupted presence). Beginning with the writings of Hubert Howe Bancroft, the library has served as a center for historical study of the missions for more than a century. In 1895 journalist and historian Charles Fletcher Lummis criticized the Act and its results, saying:

Disestablishment—a polite term for robbery—by Mexico (rather than by native Californians misrepresenting the Mexican government) in 1834, was the death blow of the mission system. The lands were confiscated; the buildings were sold for beggarly sums, and often for beggarly purposes. The Indian converts were scattered and starved out; the noble buildings were pillaged for their tiles and adobes...^[96]

California statehood (1850 and beyond)[edit]

Precise figures relating to the population decline of California indigenes are not available. One writer, Gregory Orfalea, estimates that pre-contact population was reduced by 33 percent during Spanish and Mexican rule, mostly through introduction of European diseases, but much more after the United States takeover in 1848. By 1870, the loss of indigenous lives had become catastrophic. Up to 80 percent died, leaving a population of about 30,000 in 1870. Orfalea claims that nearly half of the native deaths after 1848 were murder.^[57]

In 1837–38, a major smallpox epidemic devastated native tribes north of San Francisco Bay, in the jurisdiction of Mission San Francisco Solano. General Mariano Vallejo estimated that 70,000 died from the disease.^[97] Vallejo's ally, chief Sem-Yeto, was one of the few natives to be vaccinated, and one of the few to survive.

When the mission properties were secularized between 1834 and 1838, the approximately 15,000 resident neophytes lost whatever protection the mission system afforded them. While under the secularization laws the natives were to receive up to one-half of the mission properties, this never happened. The natives lost whatever stock and movable property they may have accumulated. When California became a U.S. state, California law stripped them of legal title to the land. In the Act of September 30, 1850, Congress appropriated funds to allow the President to appoint three Commissioners, O. M. Wozencraft, Redick McKee and George W. Barbour, to study the California situation and "...negotiate treaties with the various Indian tribes of California." Treaty negotiations ensued during the period between March 19, 1851 and January 7, 1852, during which the Commission interacted with 402 Indian chiefs and headmen (representing approximately one-third to one-half of the California tribes) and entered into eighteen treaties.^[98]

California Senator William M. Gwin's Act of March 3, 1851 created the Public Land Commission, whose purpose was to determine the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.^[99] On February 19, 1853 Archbishop J.S. Alemany filed petitions for the return of all former mission lands in the state. Ownership of 1,051.44 acres (4.2550 km²) (essentially exact area of land occupied by the original mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens) was subsequently conveyed to the Church, along with the Cañada de los Pinos (or College Rancho) in Santa Barbara County comprising 35,499.73 acres (143.6623 km²), and La Laguna in San Luis Obispo County, consisting of 4,157.02 acres (16.8229 km²).^[100] As the result of a U.S. government investigation in 1873, a number of Indian reservations were assigned by executive proclamation in 1875. The commissioner of Indian affairs reported in 1879 that the number of Mission Indians in the state was down to around 3,000.^[101]

Legacy and Native American controversy[edit]

There is controversy over the California Department of Education's treatment of the missions in the Department's elementary curriculum; in the tradition of historical revisionism, it has been alleged that the curriculum "waters down" the harsh treatment of Native Americans. Modern anthropologists cite a cultural bias on the part of the missionaries that blinded them to the natives' plight and caused them to develop strong negative opinions of the California Indians.^{[102][notes 32]} European diseases like influenza, measles, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and dysentery caused a significant population reduction from the first encounter through the 19th century as California Native Americans had no immunity to these diseases.^[103]

The impact that the original Spanish system of colonization had on modern day California cannot be overstated. Although the certain cooperation between Church and State that was part and parcel of the original California mission system was soon discarded by the Mexican government, it nonetheless provided a foundation upon which later forms of government would soon be established.^[104] The early missions and their sub-missions formed the nuclei of what would later become the major metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as many other smaller municipalities.^[105] In addition to clearing the way for Spanish, Mexican, and later American settlers, the early Spanish mission system established the viability of the early Western economies of cattle and agriculture which survive in modern form in the state to this day. The Spanish mission system acted to "settle and Westernize" California, but unfortunately did so very much at the expense of the earlier Native American Culture of California that had preceded the Spanish mission system.^[106][107]

Mission administration, locations and military districts[edit]

System Father-Presidentes[edit]

• The Rev. Junípero Serra (1769–1784)
• The Rev. Francisco Palóu (presidente pro tempore) (1784–1785)
• The Rev. Fermín Francisco de Lasuén (1785–1803)
• The Rev. Pedro Estévan Tápis (1803–1812)
• The Rev. José Francisco de Paula Señan (1812–1815)
• The Rev. Mariano Payéras (1815–1820)
• The Rev. José Francisco de Paula Señan (1820–1823)
• The Rev. Vicente Francisco de Sarría (1823–1824)
• The Rev. Narciso Durán (1824–1827)
• The Rev. José Bernardo Sánchez (1827–1831)
• The Rev. Narciso Durán (1831–1838)
• The Rev. José Joaquin Jimeno (1838–1844)
• The Rev. Narciso Durán (1844–1846)

The "Father-Presidente" was the head of the Catholic missions in Alta and Baja California. He was appointed by the College of San Fernando de Mexico until 1812, when the position became known as the "Commissary Prefect" who was appointed by the Commissary General of the Indies (a Franciscan residing in Spain). Beginning in 1831, separate individuals were elected to oversee Upper and Lower California.^[108]

Mission headquarters[edit]

• Mission San Diego de Alcalá (1769–1771)
• Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1771–1815)
• Mission La Purísima Concepción*(1815–1819)
• Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1819–1824)
• Mission San José*(1824–1827)
• Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (1827–1830)
• Mission San José*(1830–1833)
• Mission Santa Barbara (1833–1846)

† The Rev. Payeras and the Rev. Durán remained at their resident missions during their terms as Father-Presidente, therefore those settlements became the de facto headquarters (until 1833, when all mission records were permanently relocated to Santa Barbara).^{[90][notes 33][109]}

Mission locations[edit]

There were 21 missions accompanied by military outposts in Alta California from San Diego to Sonoma, California. To facilitate travel between them on horse and foot, the mission settlements were situated approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) apart, about one day's journey on horseback, or three days on foot. The entire trail eventually became a 600-mile (966-kilometer) long "California Mission Trail."^{[110]:132[111]:152} Heavy freight movement was practical only via water. Tradition has it that the padres sprinkled mustard seeds along the trail to mark it with bright yellow flowers.^{[112]:79[113]:260}

Following the old Camino Real northwards, from San Diego through to the northernmost mission in Sonoma, California, north of San Francisco Bay, the missions were:

Military districts[edit]

During the Mission Period Alta California was divided into four military districts. Each was garrisoned (comandancias) by a presidio strategically placed along the California coast to protect the missions and other Spanish settlements in Upper California.^[114] Each of these functioned as a base of military operations for a specific region. They were independent of one another and were organized from south to north as follows:

• El Presidio Real de San Diego founded on July 16, 1769^[115] – responsible for the defense of all installations located within the First Military District (the missions at San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel);^[116]
• El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara founded on April 12, 1782^[117] – responsible for the defense of all installations located within the Second Military District (the missions at San Fernando, San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Inés, and La Purísima, along with El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula [Los Angeles]);^[118]
• El Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey (El Castillo) founded on June 3, 1770^[119] – responsible for the defense of all installations located within the Third Military District (the missions at San Luis Obispo, San Miguel, San Antonio, Soledad, San Carlos, and San Juan Bautista, along with Villa Branciforte [Santa Cruz]);^[120] and
• El Presidio Real de San Francisco founded on December 17, 1776^[121] – responsible for the defense of all installations located within the Fourth Military District (the missions at Santa Cruz, San José, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Rafael, and Solano, along with El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe [San Jose]).^[122]
• El Presidio de Sonoma, or "Sonoma Barracks" (a collection of guardhouses, storerooms, living quarters, and an observation tower) was established in 1836 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (the "Commandante-General of the Northern Frontier of Alta California") as a part of Mexico's strategy to halt Russian incursions into the region.^[123] The Sonoma Presidio became the new headquarters of the Mexican Army in California, while the remaining presidios were essentially abandoned and, in time, fell into ruins.

An ongoing power struggle between church and state grew increasingly heated and lasted for decades. Originating as a feud between the Rev. Serra and Pedro Fages (the military governor of Alta California from 1770 to 1774, who regarded the Spanish installations in California as military institutions first and religious outposts second), the uneasy relationship persisted for more than sixty years.^{[124][125][notes 34]} Dependent upon one another for their very survival, military leaders and mission padres nevertheless adopted conflicting stances regarding everything from land rights, the allocation of supplies, protection of the missions, the criminal propensities of the soldiers, and (in particular) the status of the native populations.^{[126][notes 35]}

Present-day California missions[edit]

Building restoration[edit]

California is home to the greatest number of well-preserved missions found in any U.S. state.^{[47][notes 36]} The missions are collectively the best-known historic element of the coastal regions of California:

• Most of the missions are still owned and operated by some entity within the Catholic Church.
• Three of the missions are still run under the auspices of the Franciscan Order (Santa Barbara, San Miguel Arcángel, and San Luis Rey de Francia)
• Four of the missions (San Diego de Alcalá, San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, San Francisco de Asís, and San Juan Capistrano) have been designated minor basilicas by the Holy See due to their cultural, historic, architectural, and religious importance.
• Mission La Purísima Concepción, Mission San Francisco Solano, and the one remaining mission-era structure of Mission Santa Cruz are owned and operated by the California Department of Parks and Recreation as State Historic Parks;
• Seven mission sites are designated National Historic Landmarks, fourteen are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and all are designated as California Historical Landmarks for their historic, architectural, and archaeological significance.

Because virtually all of the artwork at the missions served either a devotional or didactic purpose, there was no underlying reason for the mission residents to record their surroundings graphically; visitors, however, found them to be objects of curiosity.^[128] During the 1850s a number of artists found gainful employment as draftsmen attached to expeditions sent to map the Pacific coastline and the border between California and Mexico (as well as plot practical railroad routes); many of the drawings were reproduced as lithographs in the expedition reports.^{[citation needed]}

In 1875 American illustrator Henry Chapman Ford began visiting each of the twenty-one mission sites, where he created a historically important portfolio of watercolors, oils, and etchings. His depictions of the missions were (in part) responsible for the revival of interest in the state's Spanish heritage, and indirectly for the restoration of the missions. The 1880s saw the appearance of a number of articles on the missions in national publications and the first books on the subject; as a result, a large number of artists did one or more mission paintings, though few attempted a series.^[129]

The popularity of the missions also stemmed largely from Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona and the subsequent efforts of Charles Fletcher Lummis, William Randolph Hearst, and other members of the "Landmarks Club of Southern California" to restore three of the southern missions in the early 20th century (San Juan Capistrano, San Diego de Alcalá, and San Fernando; the Pala Asistencia was also restored by this effort).^{[130][notes 37]} Lummis wrote in 1895,

In ten years from now—unless our intelligence shall awaken at once—there will remain of these noble piles nothing but a few indeterminable heaps of adobe. We shall deserve and shall have the contempt of all thoughtful people if we suffer our noble missions to fall.^[131]

In acknowledgement of the magnitude of the restoration efforts required and the urgent need to have acted quickly to prevent further or even total degradation, Lummis went on to state,

It is no exaggeration to say that human power could not have restored these four missions had there been a five-year delay in the attempt.^[132]

In 1911 author John Steven McGroarty penned The Mission Play, a three-hour pageant describing the California missions from their founding in 1769 through secularization in 1834, and ending with their "final ruin" in 1847.

Today, the missions exist in varying degrees of architectural integrity and structural soundness. The most common extant features at the mission grounds include the church building and an ancillary convento (convent) wing. In some cases (in San Rafael, Santa Cruz, and Soledad, for example), the current buildings are replicas constructed on or near the original site. Other mission compounds remain relatively intact and true to their original, Mission Era construction.

A notable example of an intact complex is the now-threatened Mission San Miguel Arcángel: its chapel retains the original interior murals created by Salinan Indians under the direction of Esteban Munras, a Spanish artist and last Spanish diplomat to California. This structure was closed to the public from 2003 to 2009 due to severe damage from the San Simeon earthquake. Many missions have preserved (or in some cases reconstructed) historic features in addition to chapel buildings.

The missions have earned a prominent place in California's historic consciousness, and a steady stream of tourists from all over the world visit them. In recognition of that fact, on November 30, 2004 President George W. Bush signed HR 1446, the California Mission Preservation Act, into law. The measure provided $10 million over a five-year period to the California Missions Foundation for projects related to the physical preservation of the missions, including structural rehabilitation, stabilization, and conservation of mission art and artifacts. The California Missions Foundation, a volunteer, tax-exempt organization, was founded in 1998 by Richard Ameil, an eighth generation Californian.^[133] A change to the California Constitution has also been proposed that would allow the use of State funds in restoration efforts.^[134]

Structures gallery[edit]

• Mission La Purísima Concepción, located northeast of Lompoc.

• Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, located south of Soledad.

• Mission San Antonio de Padua, located northwest of Jolon.

• Mission Santa Barbara, located in Santa Barbara.

• Mission San Buenaventura, located in Ventura.

• Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, located south of Carmel.

• Mission Santa Clara de Asís, located in Santa Clara.

• Scale replica of Mission Santa Cruz chapel, located in Santa Cruz.

• Mission San Diego de Alcalá, located in San Diego.

• Mission San Fernando Rey de España, located in Mission Hills (Los Angeles).

• Mission San Francisco de Asís, located in San Francisco.

• Mission San Francisco Solano, located in Sonoma.

• Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, located in San Gabriel.

• Mission Santa Inés, located in Solvang.

• Mission San José, located in Fremont.

• Mission San Juan Bautista, located in San Juan Bautista.

• Mission San Juan Capistrano, located in San Juan Capistrano.

• Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, located in San Luis Obispo.

• Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, located in Oceanside.

• Mission San Miguel Arcángel, located in San Miguel.

• Mission San Rafael Arcángel, located in San Rafael.

See also[edit]

On California Missions:

• List of Spanish missions in California
• San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, not a full mission, but still serving the Pala reservation

On California history:

• Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
• History of California through 1899
• History of the west coast of North America
• Mission Vieja

On general missionary history:

• Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery
• History of Christian Missions
• List of the oldest churches in Mexico
• Missionary

On colonial Spanish American history:

• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• California mission clash of cultures
• Indian Reductions
• California Genocide
• Native Americans in the United States

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Books[edit]

Articles and archives[edit]

• Early California Population Project (ECPP) The Huntington Library, 2006. Provides public access to all the information contained in California's historic mission registers.
• California Missions article at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• The California Missions, 2001.
• Matrimonial Investigation records of the San Gabriel Mission Claremont Colleges Digital Library, 2008, 169 records digitized and searchable by priest name or by the names of the couple requesting marriage.
• Junipero Serra, the Vatican, & Enslavement Theology Preview of Fogel, Daniel. ISM Press Books. Offers a critical perspective on the missions' impact on California's Indians.
• MissionTour Tom Simondi, 2001–2005.
• The Old Franciscan Missions of California James, George Wharton, 1913. eText at Project Gutenberg.
• The San Diego Founders Trail 2001–2008 website.
• Trails and Roads: El Camino Real Faigin, Daniel P. California Highways, 1996–2004
• Almanac: California Missions GAzis-SAx, Joel, 1999.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California missions.

• The California Frontier Project: Dedicated the early California, including the Spanish missions
• California Mission Studies Association
• California's Spanish Missions
• The California Missions Trail, California Department of Parks and Recreation
• Library of Congress: American Memory Project: Early California History, The Missions
• Tricia Anne Weber: The Spanish Missions of California
• Album of Views of the Missions of California, Souvenir Publishing Company, San Francisco, Los Angeles, 1890s.
• The Missions of California, by Eugene Leslie Smyth, Chicago: Alexander Belford & Co., 1899.
• California Historical Society
• California Mission Visitors Guide
• California Missions: A Journey Along the El Camino Real (exhibit at The California Museum)
• National Register of Historic Places: Early History of the California Coast: List of Sites
• California Mission Sketches by Henry Miller, 1856 and Finding Aid to the Documents relating to Missions of the Californias : typescript, 1768–1802 at The Bancroft Library
• Howser, Huell (December 8, 2000). "Art of the Missions (110)". California Missions. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive.