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The Name and the Geography. California's history is so romantic and filled with legend that it is fitting that the region was named for a fictional island paradise described in the 16th century Spanish romance Las Serges de Esplandian, which was popular when Spain’s explorers first came to this part of North America's Pacific Coast.
Spanish California. Europeans’ contact with California began in the mid 1530s when Cortez's men ventured to Baja California. Not until 1542 did Spaniards sail north to Alta California, and Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's expedition that year made landings as far north as modern Santa Barbara.
Mexican California. In 1808, Spain's American colonies, one by one, began to fight for independence. Even before this spirit spread to Mexico, California felt the effects of the rebellions, for Spain's hard-pressed navy could not spare ships to bring supplies to the missions, presidios, and pueblos north of San Diego.
- The King Needs Towns
- De Neve’s Plan
- The Anza Party
- The First Pueblos in Alta California
- San José and Los Ángeles
- Villa de Branciforte and The Hijar-Padrés Colony
- The Families
- Spanish Pueblos in Alta California
- Daily Life in Pueblos
- Children of Settlers
By the 1760s, Spanish officials, especially King Carlos III of Spain, had understood that in order to secure a foothold in the territory, a military presence was not enough. Although a military presidio was a self-contained community, it was never large enough to fully support itself. What the king needed were towns that could supply the presidios ...
And although some soldiers had married native women from the missions, these couples were few in number. So the governor of California, Felipe de Neve, created a plan to bring more families to the territory. Part of his plan was to find a way to people transport people and supplies up to Alta California by land, so that settlements would not only b...
The first group that came north was led by the intrepid military commander Juan Bautista de Anza, who, thanks to the help of native guide Sebastián Tarabal and chief Salvador Palma, had opened up a land route from what is today southern Arizona all the way to northern Alta California. Along with a group of over 200 men, women and children, Anza lef...
Soon after, Governor Neve instructed José Joaquín Moraga, the commander of the Presidio of San Francisco, to bring a small group of families to establish a town about 50 miles south, along the banks of the Guadalupe River. On November 29, 1777 they founded the puebloor town of San José de Guadalupe, named after Moraga’s patron saint, St. Joseph. Sa...
In 1781 Rivera y Moncada arrived with 14 families and 60 soldiers, settling near the banks of the Porciúncula River (today the Los Angeles River) near the San Gabriel Mission. There, they founded the pueblo of Los Ángeles, the second civilian town in Alta California, and eventually the largest city on the West Coast. These two pueblos would be the ...
In 1797, Governor Diego de Borica was however, able to bring seven or eight families to found Villa de Branciforte, near Mission Santa Cruz. Unlike San José and Los Angeles, Branciforte was beset by difficulties from its founding, and was eventually disbanded. The last organized settlement took place in Mexican Alta California, with the arrival of ...
The families that came to settle in Alta California might not have known how important they were to Spanish strategic goals, but they all came with a thirst to start a new and better life for themselves and their families. Most came from the territories of Sonora, Sinaloa and southern Baja California.Most were of mixed ethnicity, while some were of...
By the time the first towns or puebloswere established in Alta California, the Spanish had a tradition of town building stretching back thousands of years. From the times of the Phoenicians and Greeks, through the Roman occupation, the Spanish had absorbed the traditions of the peoples that had settled the Iberian Peninsula, blending them into a un...
In accordance with the need to work the land, daily life in towns and settlements followed an agricultural rhythm, similar to that of native people at the missions. Families would wake up early and share a meal of atole, a type of porridge made from corn and prepared by the women. After breakfast, the men and older boys would go to work tending the...
Children participated fully in the labors of the pueblo, doing tasks and chores suitable to their age. As they grew older, their responsibilities increased, and by the time they were teenagers, they could carry out most of the adult tasks. Where possible, children attended school, especially the boys. However, on the frontier this was not always po...
The history of California can be divided into the Native American period (about 10,000 years ago until 1542), the European exploration period (1542–1769), the Spanish colonial period (1769–1821), the Mexican period (1821–1848), and United States statehood (September 9, 1850–present).
Early California evolved and changed with each new group of settlers. These images depict the developing interconnectedness of California's early cultures. They also underscore the importance of movement and later settlement of peoples in California.
People also ask
How did the Pueblos attract settlers?
Why did the Spanish settle in Alta California?
Why did the Spanish settle in California?
The following timeline traces the territorial evolution of California, the thirty-first state admitted to the United States of America, including the process of removing Indigenous Peoples from their native lands, or restricting them to reservations.
