Spanish Missions in California

The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of 21 religious outposts; established by Catholic priests of the Franciscan order between 1769 and 1833, to expand Christianity among the Native Americans northwards into what is today the U.S. state of California. The missions were part of a major effort by the Spanish Empire to extend colonization into the most northern and western parts of Spain's North American claims. Following a long-term secular and religious policy of Spain in Latin America, the missionaries forced the native Californians to live in settlements called reductions. The missionaries introduced European fruits, vegetables, cattle, horses, ranching and technology into the region that became the New Spain province of Alta California; however, the missions also brought serious negative consequences to the Native American populations with whom the missionaries and other Spaniards came in contact.

Mexico achieved independence in 1821, taking Alta California along with it, but the missions maintained authority over native neophytes and control of vast land holdings until the 1830s. At the peak of its development in 1832, the coastal mission system controlled an area equal to approximately one-sixth of Alta California. The Alta California government secularized the missions after the passage of the Mexican secularization act of 1833. This divided the mission lands into land grants, which became many of the Ranchos of California.

In the end, the missions had mixed results in their objectives: to convert, educate, and "civilize" the indigenous population and transform the natives into Spanish colonial citizens. Despite the fact that the original administrative system of Spanish missions no longer survives, still the impact that the mission-system has had on California culture, economics, and place histories can yet be felt to this day. Today, the surviving mission buildings are the state's oldest structures, and its most-visited historic monuments.

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