Spanish missions in California

Template:SpanishMissions The Spanish Missions in California (more simply referred to as the "California Missions") comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans, to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier land. The missions introduced European livestock, fruits, vegetables, and industry into the California region. In addition to the presidio (fort) and pueblo (town), the misión was one of the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial territories.

Since 1493, Spain had maintained a number of missions throughout New Spain (Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States) in order to facilitate colonization of these lands. In this context, the term "California" is used to refer to the territory that comprises Alta California (chiefly the current U.S. state of California) and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. It was not until the threat of invasion by Czarist Russia in 1765, however, that the King felt such installations were necessary in Upper ("Alta") California.

Contents

1 The Missions

1.1 Site selection and layout
1.2 Missions in present day Alta California (U.S.)

1.2.1 In geographical order, north to south
1.2.2 In chronological order

1.2.2.1 Franciscan Establishments (1769-1823)

1.3 Missions in present day Baja California (Mexico)

1.3.1 In geographical order, north to south

1.3.1.1 Baja California (norte)
1.3.1.2 Baja California Sur

1.3.2 In chronological order

1.3.2.1 Jesuit Establishments (1683-1767)
1.3.2.2 Franciscan Establishments (1768-1773)
1.3.2.3 Dominican Establishments (1774-1849)

2 References

3 See also

4 External links

The Missions

Site selection and layout

Each frontier station was forced to be self-supporting, as existing means of supply were inadequate to maintain a colony of any size. California was literally months away from the nearest base in colonized Mexico, and the cargo ships of the day were too small to carry more than a few months’ rations in their holds. In order to sustain a mission, the padres required the help of colonists or converted Native Americans, called neophytes, to cultivate crops and tend livestock in the volume needed to support a fair-sized establishment. The scarcity of imported materials, together with a lack of skilled laborers, compelled the Fathers to employ simple building materials and methods in the construction of mission structures.

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Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, circa 1910. This mission is architecturally distinctive because of the strong Moorish lines exhibited.

Although the missions were considered temporary ventures by the Spanish hierarchy, the development of an individual settlement was not simply a matter of “priestly whim.” The founding of a mission followed longstanding rules and procedures; the paperwork involved required months, sometimes years of correspondence, and demanded the attention of virtually every level of the bureaucracy. Once empowered to erect a mission in a given area, the men assigned to it chose a specific site that featured a good water supply, plenty of wood for fires and building material, and ample fields for grazing herds and raising crops. The padres blessed the site, and with the aid of their military escort fashioned temporary shelters out of tree limbs or driven stakes, roofed with thatch or reeds (cañas). It was these simple huts that would ultimately give way to the stone and adobe buildings which exist to this day.

The first priority when beginning a settlement was the location and construction of the church (iglesia). The majority of mission sanctuaries were oriented on a roughly east-west axis to take the best advantage of the sun's position for interior illumination; the exact alignment depended on the geographic features of the particular site. Once the spot for the church was selected, its position would be marked and the remainder of the mission complex would be laid out. The workshops, kitchens, living quarters, storerooms, and other ancillary chambers were usually grouped in the form of a quadrangle, inside which religious celebrations and other festive events often took place. The cuadrángulo was rarely a perfect square because the Fathers had no surveying instruments at their disposal and simply measured off all dimensions by foot.

For additional details see the main article Architecture of the California Missions.

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A view of the restored Mission San Juan Bautista and its three-bell campanario ("bell wall") in 2004.

Missions in present day Alta California (U.S.)

The 21 northern missions were established along California's El Camino Real (Spanish for The King's Highway, christened in honor of King Charles III), much of which is now U.S. Highway 101. The mission planning was begun under the leadership of Fray Junípero Serra, O.F.M. in 1769 (who in 1767, along with his fellow priests, had taken control over a group of missions in Baja California previously administered by the Jesuits). Work was concluded in 1823, although Serra had died in 1784. Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén took up Serra's work and established nine more mission sites from 1786 through 1798; others established the last three compounds, along with at least five asistencia, or "sub-missions".

The missions are collectively the best-known historic element of the coastal regions of California (many of the mission sites have been designated as National Historic Landmarks, and all are listed in the California Historic Register). This popularity, stemming largely from Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona, has been both a blessing and a curse. It has earned the missions a prominent place in California's historic consciousness, and sent a steady stream of visitors to these sites. In many cases, it led to the reconstruction of these missions, with at best an honest but (too often) poorly-informed attempt to adhere to historic reality. Many reconstructed missions are adorned with lush gardens, even though research indicates that these did not exist. Furthermore, the reconstructions severely damaged the archaeological record. Lacking substantive knowledge of the native people who built and inhabited these missions, the "reconstructors" generally left them out of the stories.

Four presidios, strategically placed along the California coast, served to protect the missions and other Spanish settlements in Upper California. Each of these posts functioned as a base of military operations for a specific region, organized as follows:

El Presidio de San Diego founded in 1769, responsible for the defense of all installations in the First Military District
El Presidio de Santa Bárbara founded in 1782, responsible for the defense of all installations in the Second Military District
El Presidio de Monterey founded in 1770, responsible for the defense of all installations in the Third Military District
El Presidio de San Francisco founded in 1776, responsible for the defense of all installations in the Fourth Military District

El Presidio de Sonoma, or Sonoma Barracks was established in 1836 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the "Commanclate-General of the Northern Frontier of Alta California," as a part of Mexico's strategy to halt Russian incursions into the region.

The missions themselves were situated approximately 30 miles (48 km) apart, so that they were separated by one day's long ride on horseback along the 600-mile (966 km) long El Camino Real, the California Mission Trail.

In geographical order, north to south

Mission San Francisco Solano, in Sonoma
Mission San Rafael Arcángel, in San Rafael
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores), in San Francisco
Mission San José de Guadalupe, in Fremont
Mission Santa Clara de Asís, in Santa Clara
Mission Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz
Mission San Juan Bautista, in San Juan Bautista
Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, south of Carmel
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, south of Soledad
Mission San Antonio de Padua, northwest of Jolon
Mission San Miguel Arcángel, north of Paso Robles
Santa Margarita Asistencia, in Santa Margarita
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, in San Luis Obispo
Mission Santa Inés, in Solvang
Mission La Purísima Concepción, northeast of Lompoc
Mission Santa Bárbara, in Santa Barbara
Mission San Buenaventura, in Ventura
Mission San Fernando Rey de España, in San Fernando
San Bernadino Asistencia, in Redlands
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, in San Gabriel
Mission San Juan Capistrano, in San Juan Capistrano
Las Flores Asistencia (Las Flores Estancia), in Camp Pendleton
Santa Ysabel Asistencia, in Santa Ysabel
Mission San Antonio de Pala (Pala Asistencia), in eastern San Diego County
Mission San Luís Rey de Francia, in Oceanside
Mission San Diego de Alcalá, in San Diego

In chronological order

Franciscan Establishments (1769-1823)

Mission San Diego de Alcalá founded in 1769
Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo founded in 1770
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel founded in 1771
Mission San Antonio de Padua founded in 1771
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in 1772
Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in 1776
Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) founded in 1776
Mission Santa Clara de Asís founded in 1777
Mission San Buenaventura founded in 1782
Mission Santa Bárbara founded in 1786
Mission La Purísima Concepción founded in 1787
Santa Margarita Asistencia founded in 1787
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad founded in 1791
Mission Santa Cruz founded in 1791
Mission San Fernando Rey de España founded in 1797
Mission San Miguel Arcángel founded in 1797
Mission San Juan Bautista founded in 1797
Mission San José de Guadalupe founded in 1797
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia founded in 1798
Mission Santa Inés founded in 1804
Mission San Antonio de Pala (Pala Asistencia) founded in 1816
Mission San Rafael Arcángel founded in 1817 – originally planned as an asistencia to Mission San Francisco de Asís
Santa Ysabel Asistencia founded in 1818
San Bernadino Asistencia founded in 1819
Mission San Francisco Solano founded in 1823 – originally planned as an asistencia to Mission San Rafael Arcángel
Las Flores Asistencia (Las Flores Estancia) founded in 1823

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The stone capilla (chapel) at Baja California Sur's Misión Santa Rosalía de Mulegé in 2005.

Missions in present day Baja California (Mexico)

In geographical order, north to south

Baja California (norte)

Baja California Sur

In chronological order

References

External links

Template:Commons

Almanac: California Missions (http://notfrisco.com/almanac/missions/)
Animated Map of Mission Formation in Alta California (http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/anthony/missions.html)
California Highways - Trails and Roads: El Camino Real (http://www.cahighways.org/elcamino.html/)
California Historical Society (http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/) official website
California Mission Studies Association (http://www.ca-missions.org/) official website
California Missions (http://missions.bgmm.com/)
California Missions (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03177b.htm) article at The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/)
The California Missions (http://www.thecaliforniamissions.com/)
California Missions: A Virtual Tour (http://www.californiamissions.com/)
Early California History: The Missions (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbmissio.html)
The Missions of the California's and Beyond (http://www.timsbaja.com/rjackson.html)
Mission Tour Home (http://missiontour.org/)
The Old Franciscan Missions of California eText (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/5/13854/13854-h/13854-h.htm) at Project Gutenberg
The San Diego Founders Trail (http://www.earlysandiego.org/) official website

Template:Missions-by-country

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Spanish missions in California

The Missions

Site selection and layout

Missions in present day Alta California (U.S.)

In geographical order, north to south

In chronological order

Franciscan Establishments (1769-1823)

Missions in present day Baja California (Mexico)

In geographical order, north to south

Baja California (norte)

Baja California Sur

In chronological order

Jesuit Establishments (1683-1767)

Franciscan Establishments (1768-1773)

Dominican Establishments (1774-1849)

References

See also

External links

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