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Brief History
of California
George
Pararas-Carayannis
(The
following brief review of the early history of California and
of the establishment of the missions resulted from historical
research for accounts of early earthquakes and tsunamis in California
preserved in mission records)
Background
The area known as
California was first claimed for the Spanish Crown in 1542 by
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo when San Diego Bay was discovered. However,
the region remained unexplored for more than two hundred years.
In this time interval, New Spain's expansion in the northern
frontier continued along a line of one hundred presidios (military
garrisons or forts) in the present- day Northern Mexico and the
American Southwest. However, in 1769, in response to concerns
over possible intrusion by Russia and England into the area,
the colonization of Alta (Upper) California, was initiated by
the Spaniards.
The Departure
of the Spanish Ship San Carlos from the Port of La Paz on January
10, 1769, under the command of Don Vicente Vila, for a voyage
to California (Modified graphic from original 1909 drawing by
W. Francis)
The Voyage of Portola
and the Establishment of the Early Fransciscan Missions in California
Although San Diego
Bay was discovered by the Spaniards in 1542, and Monterey Bay
was sighted by seafaring Spaniards in 1602, the recorded history
of California did not begin until 1769 with the arrival and colonization
of Spaniards and Mexicans. On May 14, 1769, a small land party
of Spanish soldiers and Indians, traveling through hundreds of
miles of mountains and deserts, reached San Diego.
 (photo of Santa Barbara Mission)
The Governor of Baja
California, the Spaniard Gaspar de Portola, and the Franciscan
friar Junipero Serra, reached San Diego by sea with two ships
six weeks later. Soon thereafter, the first of 21 Franciscan
missions, the San Diego de Alcala, was established. Portola continued
his journey north searching for the harbor of Monterey. When
he reached the broad bay of Monterey, since it did not match
the description of the early mariners, he pushed onward and reached
another bay which he named "San Francisco."
After sailing back
to San Diego, he set out one more time to search for Montery
Bay, which he reached on May 31, 1770. There, he established
the settlement of Monterey and the mission of San Carlos Borromeo.
The Spaniards
March to Monterey
Discovery
of the Bay of San Francisco
Spanish Colonization
Spain's colonization
strategy of California was intended to follow the same pattern
as in Northern Mexico and in the American Southwest - through
the establishment of missions, pueblos and presidios, each having
a distinct function.
 Missions were intended to be the temporary facilities
for turning natives into Christian citizens of the Spanish empire,
thus providing a civilian population, a labor force and auxiliary
military support for protecting Spanish interests in the area.
By 1773, five missions had sprung up in California. These were
San Diego, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio de Padua,
and San Carlos. The Franciscan Father Serra supervised their
construction. These Franciscan outposts were the foundations
on which California would grow. A total of twenty-one missions
were established in California in the following years.
The pueblos (towns)
were supposed to be composed largely of families recruited in
Mexico. They were expected to provide agricultural support for
the presidio companies, while also expanding population centers
and military reserves in case of invasion. However, only three
pueblos were established under Spanish rule in California. These
were the pueblos of Branciforte, of Los Angeles and of San Jose.
First survey and map
of the Bay of San Francisco by Lt. Ayala (from original drawing
attached to the Log of the San Carlos at Archives of Seville)
Finally, the presidios
were the military outposts established to provide coastal defense
from foreign invasion and to defend the missions and towns. In
addition to their military role, they were the civil, economic
and social centers for the frontier settlements of Alta (Upper
) California. They served as the centers for government and for
communication within California and between California, Mexico
and Spain. The presidios were the trading centers, which received
and disbursed the annual supply of goods from Mexico, on which
the entire population was dependent for survival. And the presidial
companies, composed largely of married soldiers and their families,
were planned as "seed" communities from which future
pueblos would grow, thus strengthening Spain's claims to the
region.
In 1769, presidios
were established at San Diego and Monterey. The San Francisco
Presidio was established in 1776, and the Santa Barbara Presidio
in 1782. More than one hundred presidios were eventually established
by Spain on its northern frontier. All of the presidios met to
varying degrees the goals assigned to them by the Crown. Most
were successful in fulfilling their role as "seed"
communities. Pueblos grew up around the forts as military personnel
retired from active duty and constructed adobe homes nearby.
Military garrisons from the presidios, provided protection to
the mission padres the (priests) and to the settlers for as long
as they were needed. Once, in 1818, presidio soldiers defend
the coast from a raid by the Argentine pirate Bouchard. Presidio
couriers on horseback provided an efficient communication system
- an early "pony express" system.
(Mission La Purisima)
 Colonization by Land
Colonization by land
begun of March 22, 1774, when a land party led by Don Juan Bautista
de Anza and Fray Garce`s, with the help from the local Indians,
found a way through the mountains and reached the San Gabriel
mission. A trail from Mexico to the California colonies was finally
established. The next goal of the Spaniards was the northern
Bay of San Francisco, where a new major outpost was planned.
Anza returned to Mexico,
marking the trail which had led him to Monterey. In Mexico City
he reported to Viceroy Bucareli and received permission to organize
an expedition of settlers. In October 1775, Anza assembled at
Tubac, Mexico, an expedition consisting of 240 persons (mostly
women and children), 695 horses and mules, and 355 head of cattle.
The settlers reached the San Gabriel mission in early January
1776, and Monterey in March. In September of 1776, about two
months after a new American nation was established far to the
east, the Presidio of San Francisco was formally dedicated by
Anza.
In 1781, an uprising
by the Yuma Indians closed the overland route to California that
had been so heroically pioneered by Anza, and Garce's. California
was once more virtually isolated from both Mexico and Spain.
The infusion of new colonists was cut off. California lacked
population and manufactured goods. Foreign traders and foreign
emigrants--especially Americans-- began to arrive in overwhelming
numbers. In the following years, the Spaniards concentrated on
the protection of New Mexico, which was considered an essential
buffer protecting the rich Mexican heartland from the marauding
Indian tribes of the American plains.
California Prospers
Meanwhile, California,
the isolated frontier of New Spain, prospered under the mission
system and the leadership of the visionary Franciscan Junipero
Serra and the equally - able successor Fermin Francisco de Lasuen,
and three other subsequent padres. Between 1769 and 1823, a chain
of 21 missions had been built stretching from San Diego, 650
miles north, to the great Bay of San Francisco. These missions
were linked by "El Camino Real," or the Royal Road.
The missions were self-supporting and became the centers of Spanish
civilization in California. The friars of these mission also
acted as archivists of everything that was happening in California,
and in these records they preserved accounts of earthquakes in
the early history of California.
Mexico achieved its
independence from Spain in February 1821, but the news of the
event did not reach California until the following year. In November
1822, Luis Arguello became the first governor of California under
Mexican rule. During the following years trading flourished.
Americans began arriving overland-- much to the surprise of the
Californians. On November 27,1826, Jedediah Smith, and a party
of fur trappers who found a new trail through southern Utah,
northwestern Arizona, and the Mojave Desert of Southern California,
and showed up at the San Gabriel mission. The Californians felt
uneasy about the presence of these Americans. Smith was placed
under house arrest, but was released, finally provided he and
his men would leave California at once by the way they had come.
Smith and his trappers stayed for a while hunting, then found
a new trail back home, traveling across the Sierra Nevada and
the Great Salt Lake basin, In 1827, Smith returned to California
where he was jailed but later released. His trails were now known
to the Americans.
Decline Of Spanish Influence
Most of the twenty
one California missions enjoyed great material success for a
while, but the natives who were brought within their compounds
were gradually decimated by foreign diseases to which they had
no immunity. Thus the Franciscan friars were not able to deliver
the expected large population of new Spanish citizens to the
Crown. The mission properties, following secularization by the
Mexican government in the 1830s, were distributed to soldiers
in lieu of wages and to Mexican citizens in return for political
favors. The Native Americans who remained were assimilated into
the local society serving as laborers, household servants and
vaqueros (cowboys).
Of the three California
pueblos, the pueblo of Branciforte was unsuccessful from the
beginning. There was no significant growth to the other pueblos
of Los Angeles and San Jose which remained as small villages
until well into the American period.
The significance of
the presidios also diminished as communities eventually assumed
the political functions originally centered in the presidios.
By the end of the Spanish/Mexican period in 1848, the presidios
were in ruins, due to disuse and cannibalization of building
materials. Most of the buildings of these presidios have nearly
vanished.
In 1828, an uprising
of the local Indian tribes was broken by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
In 1833, the greatest of California's Mexican governors, Jose
Figueroa, assumed office. Vallejo became Figueroa's trusted protege'
and he was sent to northern California to institute colonizing
efforts, through new settlements, and to control the Indians
of the north. In 1835, Figueroa died and a political turmoil
followed. For a brief period, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Vallejo's
nephew, forced his way until 1842, as revolutionary governor
of California.
American Expansion
After the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803, the American nation began its expansion. The
Santa Fe Trail was established bringing Americans closer and
closer to California. Texas was the first part of the American
West won by the new nation.
Illegal infiltration
of California by foreigners continued over the years. A series
of events in 1846 cast much doubt about Mexico"s ability
to maintain its hold on California much longer. Vallejo advocated
annexation by the United States. Ironically on June 14, 1846,
a small group of Americans acting on orders from John Charles
Fremont, a young American officer, attacked the northern outpost
of Sonoma, and captured and jailed Vallejo. The Mexican- American
war had already started. Monterey had already fallen into the
hands of the Americans. The Mexican-American war raged until
February 2, 1848, when a peace treaty was signed. Mexico ceded
to the United Stated what they already had, New Mexico and California.
The Gold Rush of 1849 brought thousands more Americans to California.
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