Mission Period (1769-1834): The Setting Of Our FILM

Junipero Serra became involved with the missions when the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain and Serra was chosen to take over the missions. He had a complete new vision for the missions that included forcing the natives to live on the mission and attend mass twice everyday. Women were to be separated from men so that there would be no possibility of sin in the missions. Serra’s ultimate goal for the missions was to convert as many natives as possible because he believed in the power and greatness of his religion(Castillo 55-70). In his lifetime, Serra founded nine missions and converted around 5,000 natives in present day California(PBS.org). Spain was more than pleased with Serra’s work with the missions because they felt it gave Spain control over Alta California. They encouraged the missions and began sending more friars to aid in the process that Serra had created(Castillo 70-75).

Before the missions came to exist the land which is today known as California has already been inhabited by Indigenous people for thousands of years. The land was their treasure and they celebrated in their everyday life while also using its resources. Once Europeans came in the picture the establishment of the missions began. One of these missions was the San Gabriel Arcángel mission. As they were introduced the indigenous people were brought to them with the goal being to Christianize and civilize them.

The greed for gold and the race for El Dorado were the main inducements of the Spaniards who, at the peril of their lives, crossed the ocean in unfit vessels in a mad pursuit after the gold and all other precious property of the Indians” (Peace 479). The royal rulers of Spain made it a rule that nothing would jeopardize their ability to rob the land from the native people of Latin America. The missionary process, “had to be encouraged, but the missionaries could not be permitted to dominate the colony at the cost of royal rule” (Gibson 76). The European governments established missionaries to cleanse their minds of any guilt aroused by the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children. When European “ships arrived in the 16th century to colonize the land and exploit its natural resources, they killed indigenous people and brought black slaves from Africa. Millions of indigenous people were slain and their cultures completely destroyed by the process of colonization” (Ribero). The overall devastations caused by the Christianization of the native inhabitants created a blend of cultures within the indigenous civilizations which gradually isolated old native ways into a small population of oppressed people. The Christianized people became a symbol of loyalty to the European powers and were left alone simply on their religious status. This long term mission of total religious replacement caused very strong and advanced

Spanish wanted to colonize some of America, just like the Europeans. Building religious based Missions all throughout California was a way for them to maintain ultimate social, political, and economic control. Spanish explorers arrived on the border of California during the 16th century. The very first Franciscan mission was built in San Diego during 1769. By 1833, twenty two Spanish Missions existed from Southern California to Northern California. Native Americans made up about one-third of those who lived and worked at the Missions. There were an estimated 310,000 Indians living in California during the 16th century. The Spanish provided the Native Americans with the necessities such as food,

In the early 1700's, the country of Spain sent many explorers to the western world to claim land and find riches. When California was founded by several Spanish explorers, like Cabrillo, and De Anza, Spain decided to send missionaries to build missions. There are a total of 21 missions built in California. Mission Santa Ines was the 19th mission and was built to share the European God with the Indians and how to eat and dress like Europeans. Father Tapis wanted to make the Indians Christians and

The Spanish in contact with California occurred in the mid 1530s when Cortez’s men ventured to Baja California. They began to sail north to Alta California and established 21 missions. The expedition to Alta California was the last greatest expansion of Spain’s empire in North America. The missions were a series of religious and military settlements established by the padre. The Spanish constructed the missions to gain control and power over the land in California. San Francisco Solano Mission was the last mission established in Sonoma, the Valley of the Moon, resulted an important historical event in California and the existence of the California flag. The Spanish arrival to California created a major impact to the lives of the native Indians, and there were many significant events occurred among the Spaniards, the native Indians, and the Americans before California became a part of America.

My mission is named in honor of Saint Francis Solano, he was a Spanish Franciscan Missionary in Peru and Paraguay. It is the twenty-first and last of the California missions. It was founded by Fray Jose Altimira on July 4, 1823. Mission Sonoma, it’s shaped like a square of long buildings, forming a quadrangle, made of adobe bricks and wood. In one corner was the church, adjacent was living quarters and parallel were the workshops, kitchen, and storage. In addition, there were orchards, gardens, vineyards, fields of grain, a grist mill, houses for the soldiers and Indian families, a jail, a cemetery, and an infirmary.

According to the Missions of California book, The spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Franciscans between 1769 and 1823. The Missions represent colonization of the Europeans in the Pacific Coast region. After Columbus’ landing in the west indies, the king of Spain wanted to set empire in the new land. They wanted to control politically and religiously. Not to mention that, in 54 years, 21 California missions were established along the the El Camino Real; one of them being Mission San Juan Bautista. The Mission also runs along the base of the San Andreas fault. San Juan Bautista is historically rich in architectural beauty, Native American history as

According to what we learn in the class, children were separated from their parents and kept in a separate place. They had to wake up very early in the morning and attended the classes and learn all about Christianity, instead of playing around and experiencing the outside world. My question here was how can children be happy if they were separated from their mother? I was looking for the truth in the mission, but I found lies all over, in the museum, in the church and in the garden. The history was depicted in the viewpoint of the Spanish priests and solders leaving out all the native Indians. There is a cemetery on the back side of the church.it was the final resting place for thousands of neophytes and the early settlers. Visiting the mission brings me both joy and sadness. I was happy to see such a beautiful architecture is preserved and it gives us some evidence about our past. Visiting this mission took me back in the history, to the mission era that lead to death of thousands of native Indians. The sad part is that there is nothing or very small information about the Indians in the mission. In this course we learned about Indians and how they were treated poorly by Spaniards. Indians were the main income source for the mission. They worked under a very strict and harsh condition. And they were punished if they tried to escape. The ultimate goal of Spaniards was to erase native’s culture completely

The arrive of Father Junipero Serra in the Sacred Expedition in 1769 contributed to the expansion of the Spain's Catholic religion in California and the disappearance of the Native culture. As a tradition, King Carlos III tried to expand the Enlightenment rationality in all the Spain's provinces; he wanted the natives from his conquered lands to have an education and speak their language. To continue with this custom, Father Serra traveled to California to build nine missions by the coast, and by 1823 his successors had raised the number to twenty-one. One of the purposes of the missions was to educate natives about Spanish traditions through Spain's Catholic padres since they considered natives as irrational; this means that the California's

The missionary schools were to educate and civilize the natives. The spanish felt superior to them and in order for the indians to be considered “gente de razon” (people with reason) they had to be baptized into this new religion. It was a way of expanding the Spanish power once the indians were baptized they

Understandably, these settlements hinged on perspectives revolving around the Catholic Church. The Spanish justified their attacks using the justification declared in the Spanish Requirement of 1513, which states that they had the divinely ordained right to take possession of the territories of the New World and to subjugate, exploit, and (when necessary) to fight the native inhabitants. The forced conversions and new guidelines brought suppression of native religions, and, although most natives conceded, the confinement instigated an uprising for many. Unfortunately for the Spanish, in 1680 the indigenous Pueblo people of Santé Fe finally revolted, killing 400 Spanish and overtaking the province for 12 years. Contrastingly, after intolerable persecution in England, the Calvinist Puritans and Separatists looked for religious toleration in the New World. Because life in England wasn’t an option, forming long-term colonies in the New World to fit their needs was their sole opportunity. John Winthrop, the first governor of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, believed the Puritans exemplified a “City on a hill” or an example of

They extended their quest searching for the urban areas of gold yet found the Grand Canyon and other Hopi Indian towns. The sixteenth and seventeenth hundreds of years presented missions headed and established by Father Kino. The missions taught Indians how to ranch, stock their territory with steers, and they investigated the area in the middle of Arizona and California. The Indians thought the Spaniards were assuming control over their territory and the Spaniards recovered the area.

Although The Mission and Bartolomé De Las Casas' book, The Devastation of the Indies portray events that took place over two centuries apart, similar features and effects of colonization are apparent in each account. Slight differences in viewpoints are evident, such as The Mission's portrayal of the natives in a more humane fashion, but this goes along with the evolution of time and the current trend of being politically correct. In other words, people today have broader views on issues, are more unbiased in their reasoning, and are careful not to offend others. Whether efforts to conquer land happened in

William Carey was an English missionary. He was known as the “father of modern missions”. He was one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society. He translated the bible into Bengali, Sanskrit and other languages and dialects used in India.