Summary OfFranciscan Missions In Alta California

The lives of Native Americans were impacted by the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1492, changing their lives forever. Spain would now rule a vast empire for the next 350 years structured on factors such as labor and exploitation of the Indian population. The conquistadors had aspirations of bringing about Catholicism to non-Christian areas, while extracting riches in the process. With many Spaniards going over seas to find riches, diseases followed them causing problems for New World natives due to their lack of immunities. With the trouble caused upon natives, individuals like Bartolomé de Las Casas attempted to bring awareness and a halt against the oppression of the Indians.

The indigenous people of California had existed on the lands as hunters-gathers before the arrival of the Spanish who were the first Europeans to reach this part of the Americas. These settlers who began surveying the area since 1530, helped introduce the mission system around 1697 as part of an effort to set up permanent bases for new arrivals and as a bulwark against other European powers. This establishment caused the natives to transition from their original lifestyle into agrarian farmers to help bring in revenue for the Spanish crown which led to them being exploited economically in the process. To establish order in this new land, the Spaniards used harsh punishments for rooting out defiance within the Indian population. However, eventually the natives would begin to die off in such large quantities that it echoed what else was happening what was happening in the rest of the continent. Overall, the effect on the indigenous population was predominantly negative due to contributing towards loss of culture, experiencing callous treatment at the hands of the Spanish, and forced population decline.

In Deborah Miranda’s memoir “Bad Indians”, she uses documents, images, and drawings to expose colonial violence and provides evidence of a history of conquest. There are different types of colonial violence that are depicted throughout her memoir, such as: physical, emotional, sexual, and cultural violence. Additionally, Miranda exposes the nature of colonial violence by providing evidence by implementing particular sources to contribute in confirming the history of conquest throughout the lives of California Mission Indians.

Smallpox was the number one eradicator facing those who didn’t possess immunity to the rank disease. Over 90% of native peoples died from this illness. Spain constructed a system known as encomienda. Under this arrangement Indians could be traded to slave owners in exchange for the devotion of their Christian loyalty. The relationship between Indians and Spanish voyagers was not all horrific. They did

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.

Year of 1769 General Jose de Galvez arrived on the shore of San Diego with government official soldiers to contain the Native Americans that resided there. Building the missions were the “central to Spain’s plan, religio-economic institutions operated by orders of Spanish Priests to pacify Indians, convert them to Catholicism, teach them European skills and culture, and transform them into a laboring population.” (The Elusive Eden, 86) With the missions having land around their building, they planned to establish the Native Americans under the Spanish Law by converting them. In turn this will allow them to “civilize” the Native people enough to live on their own in the New California. General Jose’s soldiers began building fortified outposts

"In northern Mexico the Indian population fell from 2,500,000 to less than 320,000…as mining activity in northern Mexico created routes of infection that killed from 30 to 40 percent of the Indian population even prior to Spanish contact"(Vargas 30). The food production of region also went down and the already established societies soon became disarticulated. These societies were generally made to produce for and in the interest of the Spaniards after armed conquest. The Spaniards had no regards in the long-term evolvement of Mexico’s region. Missions were established throughout the Mexican region to encourage the implementation of culture and religion on the indigenous people of Mexico. The Indians in the areas of conquest resisted and revolted, even after the independence of Mexico from Spain.

Axtell explains that stating that the two groups encountered each other “is not a perfect fit” for the situation due to the fact that it was not mutual between the two and that the Natives were more so put on the defense. With the arrival of the explorers, the lifestyle of the Indians were challenged, which made them resort to protecting their freedom and culture. One of the first reactions to newcomers was that the natives were rather peaceful and offered the show their ways to the Europeans. Unknown to what consisted in the east hemisphere

Similar to enslaved Africans and indentured Native Americans, labored Indians have their actions regulated and behavior monitored, was not paid wages, and could be physically punished for escaping. All of them

The motivations found for the missions were founded upon colonizing the newfound territory. Instead of sending settlers, the Spanish catholic missions were used to convert the Native people to the Catholic faith. There were many expectations the Franciscan padres had on the natives. Through the conversion, the Spaniards were to “civilize” the natives in order to make them work in building and maintaining the missions. In order for the natives’ souls to be saved the Franciscan padres believed that the native people needed to be baptized and educated. Upon doing so, there was a cross-cultural clash in which the padres disrupted native traditions, which included religious beliefs. The catholic leaders saw the religions the natives practiced as pagan, and tainted with evil, and were therefor to be rid of (California

“And this was the freedom, the good treatment, and the Christianity the Indians received” (De Las Casas, 32). This was the religion the Indians were exposed to that caused the cruel and unusual treatment towards them. This treatment was revealed to many who disowned it showing it through documents and accounts of the Indians’ tough life caused by the

One of the strategies the Indians employed when the European invaded their land was to incorporate them. Before natives fully accepted the Europeans, they still offered them help, advice, and friendship. They helped European ships to berth after several weeks at sea seeking safe anchorage. They also helped they collect firewood, fresh water, arrange small trade and sometimes sexual favor in exchange for English goods. When the Europeans made landfall and eventually settled in the land, the Indians welcomed them by giving honorary titles just as they did to other natives whom they adopted or other captives of war.

The first source presented is a Spanish priest/missionary named Bartolome De Las Casas, who declares that the Christian Spaniards treated the Indigenous peoples in the Americas poorly, by not converting them to the Christian faith before their cruel and torturous deaths from the abusive behavior. The source starts out with the comment that “the reason the [Spanish] Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed... Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds; the land is fertile and rich, the inhabitants simple, forbearing and submissive.” The author states this because the Spaniards at the time were not concerned about the Indigenous peoples lives; they only cared about their 3 precious things: gold, God, and glory. They stole the riches from the chieftains, they assimilated the peoples to the “superior” Christian faith, and stole their lands for the glory of Spain. Next, the author states that “the

While reading the sources I learned a diversity of new facts that I would otherwise have not knew if I had only read what was provided in the textbook. After reading source three “Indians of the Rio Grande”, I gained a further understanding on how the Spaniards came to America for their desire to conquer the some of territories, for example Florida in 1527. In the document from Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, “Indians of the Rio Grande” it explains how Cabeza de Vaca made an improbable voyage “across from the American Southwest from 1528 to 1536”. Throughout Cabeza de Vaca’s journey with his ‘companions’ they explored and were able to analyze how the Native Americans were, their traditions and customs. The Spaniards spend time with the Indians for about eight months, and learned many new things from the Native Americans. The Indians pressured and obligated the Spaniards that they had to become medicine men; in which they served as traditional healers to the community of the indigenous

It is no surprise that the discoverers of the New World are portrayed, through media outlets and taught during early education, to be frontiers who found America spoiled with treasures and met the indigenous people with curiosity and tolerance; for if history was broadcasted as it actually occurred, the horrors would be enough to send chills down the spines of even those with the thickest skin. Ramon Gutierrez, in his book When Jesus Came, the Corn Mother Went Away, maintains that the Spaniards came to America with one purpose in mind: to seize, dominate, and conquer by any means necessary; and the tactics, were that of subjugating, raping, and enslaving Native American women and men. In order for these atrocities to occur for as long