A History of California Missions for Kids

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. A total of 20, natives were "attached" to the California missions in the highest figure recorded during in the Mission Period ; under Mexican rule the number rose to 21, in , the record year during the entire era of the Franciscan missions.

During the entire period of Mission rule, from to , the Franciscans baptized 53, adult Indians and buried 37, Two epidemics of measles , one in and the other in , caused many deaths. The mortality rates were so high that the missions were constantly dependent upon new conversions. 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. 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, the peak of the mission system's development the mission padres had performed a combined total of 87, baptisms and 24, marriages, and recorded 63, deaths.

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Willard, "he was starved and flogged. If he ran away he was pursued and brought back. 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 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 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. 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.

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. 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 It is recorded that the neophytes performed the work "under unmitigated compulsion.

In recent years, much debate has arisen as to the actual treatment of the Indians during the Mission period, and many claim that the California mission system is directly responsible for the decline of the native cultures. Evidence has now been brought to light that puts the Indians' experiences in a very different context.

The missionaries of California were by-and-large well-meaning, devoted men 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. 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 missions in California facts for kids

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 ; in , 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. Serra set aside a portion of the Mission Carmel gardens in for tobacco plants, a practice that soon spread throughout the mission system. 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 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 , at the height of their prosperity, the missions collectively owned:. 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 " 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, 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. 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 sustained the entire military and civil government of California.

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.

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. This would facilitate colonization of these lands awarded to Spain by the Catholic Church , including that region later known as Alta California. Accompanied by European men-at-arms mostly Spaniards , 1, to 2, Mexican Indian allies, several Indian and African slaves, and four Franciscan monks, he traveled from Mexico through parts of the southwestern United States to present-day Kansas between and Unknown to Spain, Sir Francis Drake , an English privateer who pillaged Spanish ships and settlements, claimed the Alta California region for England in , a full generation before the first English landing in Jamestown, Virginia in During his circumnavigation of the world, Drake anchored in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claimed the territory for Queen Elizabeth I.

To preserve an uneasy peace with Spain and to avoid the prospect of Spain threatening England's claims in the New World, Queen Elizabeth I ordered Drake's discovery and claim kept secret. However, it wasn't until 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.

California represents the "high-water mark" of Spanish expansion in North America as the last and northernmost colony on the continent. 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. 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.

Estimates for the pre-contact indigenous population in California are based on a number of different sources and vary substantially, from ,, to ,, to as high as , from more than separate tribes or nations. 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.

En route to Monterey, the Rev. These were the first recorded baptisms in Alta California. Crespi dubbed the spot Los Cristianos. The group continued northward but missed Monterey Harbor and returned to San Diego on January 24, In following years, the Spanish Crown sent a number of follow-up expeditions to explore more of Alta California.

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. 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.

None of the California missions ever attained complete self-sufficiency, and required continued albeit modest financial support from mother Spain. Mission development was therefore financed out of El Fondo Piadoso de las Californias The Pious Fund of the Californias , which originated in 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 , this support largely disappeared, and missions and converts were left on their own. As of , native labor had made up the backbone of the colonial economy. Arguably "the worst epidemic of the Spanish Era in California" was known to be the measles epidemic of , 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.

In , 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. 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. 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 establishment of Fort Ross krepost' rus , an agricultural, scientific, and fur-trading settlement located in present-day Sonoma County, California. 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.

By , 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 An attempt to found a twenty-second mission in Santa Rosa in was aborted. In the final group of missionaries arrived in Alta California.

These friars would bear the brunt of the changes brought on by secularization and the U. As the Mexican republic matured, calls for the secularization "disestablishment" of the missions increased. 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. By 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. To that end, he appointed a number of comisionados commissioners to oversee the emancipation of the Indians. 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, Governor Figueroa issued his "Decree of Confiscation. 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. According to one estimate, the native population in and around the missions proper was approximately 80, at the time of the confiscation; others claim that the statewide population had dwindled to approximately , by the early s, 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.

California Missions Native History

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. 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. Want to watch this again later? This lesson will introduce you to the California missions, including the system in which the Native Californians and missions' priests lived. Read on to learn interesting facts about life at a mission. Exploring the Missions Have you ever walked into an old building or house and wondered who lived there in the past? The Mission System Can you imagine leaving your home and moving to a brand new community?

The padres visiting the Natives. Try it risk-free No obligation, cancel anytime. Want to learn more?

5 Spectacular Stops on the California Mission Trail

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Exploring the Missions

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