Plans for colonization (1697–1769) was the first mission established in the Californias (present-day
Loreto, Mexico) in 1697. Father
Eusebio Kino missionized the
Pimería Alta from 1687 until his death in 1711. In 1697, a
Jesuit expansion into California was funded and the
Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó was established that same year. Plans in 1715 by Juan Manuel de Oliván Rebolledo resulted in a 1716 decree for extension of the conquest (of Baja California) which came to nothing.
Juan Bautista de Anssa proposed an expedition from
Sonora in 1737 and the
Council of the Indies planned settlements in 1744, although these plans did not take action. Don Fernando Sánchez Salvador researched the earlier proposals and suggested the area of the
Gila and
Colorado Rivers as the locale for forts or presidios preventing the French or the English from "occupying
Monterey and invading the neighboring coasts of California which are at the mouth of the
Carmel River." Alta California was not easily accessible from New Spain: land routes were cut off by deserts and Indigenous peoples who were hostile to invasion. Sea routes ran counter to the southerly currents of the distant northwestern Pacific. Ultimately, New Spain did not have the economic resources nor population to settle such a far northern outpost. In subsequent decades, news of
Russian colonization and
maritime fur trading in Alaska, and the 1768 naval expedition of
Pyotr Krenitsyn and
Mikhail Levashov alarmed the Spanish government and served to justify Gálvez's vision.
Spanish colonization (1769–1821) (outline of the present state of California). The
Portolá expedition was the first European land-entry expedition into the area that is now California. The missionaries and soldiers encountered numerous
Indigenous peoples of the area, who became the primary subjects of the expanding
Jesuit and
Franciscan missions that were already established in
Baja California and
Baja California Sur. The expedition first established the
Presidio of San Diego at the site of the
Kumeyaay village of
Kosa'aay, which became the first European settlement in the present state of California. At first contact, the villagers provided food and water for the expedition, who were suffering from
scurvy and
water deprivation. The first Alta California mission was founded that same year adjacent to the village
Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded by the
Franciscan friar
Junípero Serra and
Gaspar de Portolá in
San Diego in 1769. Similar to the site of this mission, subsequent missions and presidios were often founded at the site of Indigenous villages.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was founded at the
Tongva village
Toviscanga and the
Pueblo de Los Ángeles at the village of
Yaanga. The first settlers of Los Angeles were African and
mulatto Catholics, including at least ten of the recently re-discovered
Los Pobladores.
Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded at the
Acjachemen village of
Acjacheme.
Mission San Fernando was founded at
Achooykomenga. As the Spanish and civilian settlers further intruded into Indigenous lands and imposed their practices, ideas of property, and religion onto them backed by the force of soldiers and settlers, Indigenous peoples formed rebellions on Spanish missions and settlements. A major rebellion at Mission San Gabriel in 1785 was led by the
medicine woman Toypurina. Runaways from the missions were common, where abuse, malnourishment, and overworking were common features of daily life. Runaways would sometimes find shelter at more distant villages, such as a group of runaways who found refuge at the
Vanyume village of
Wá'peat, the chief of which refused to give them up. Many children died young at the missions. One missionary reported that 3 of every 4 children born at Mission San Gabriel died before reaching the age of two. The precolonial Indigenous population of California is estimated to have numbered around 340,000 people, who were diverse culturally and linguistically. From 1769 to 1832, at least 87,787 baptisms and 63,789 deaths of
Indigenous peoples occurred, demonstrating
the immense death rate at the missions in Alta California.
Conversion to Christianity at the colonial missions was often resisted by Indigenous peoples in Alta California. Many missionaries in the province wrote of their frustrations with teaching Indigenous people to internalize Catholic scripture and practice. Many Indigenous people learned to navigate religious expectations at the missions with complex social behaviors in order to maintain their cultural and religious practices. Spanish, and later Mexican, governments rewarded retired
soldados de cuera with large land grants, known as
ranchos, for the raising of cattle and sheep. Hides and
tallow from the livestock were the primary exports of California until the mid-19th century. Similar to the missions, the construction, ranching and domestic work on these vast estates was primarily done by
Indigenous peoples, who learned to speak Spanish and ride horses. Under Spanish and Mexican rule, the ranchos prospered and grew.
Rancheros (cattle ranchers) and
pobladores (townspeople) evolved into the unique
Californio culture., established in 1770, was the headquarters of the
Californian mission system from 1797 until 1833. By law, mission land and property were to pass to the Indigenous population after a period of about ten years, when the Indigenous people would become Spanish subjects. In the interim period, the Franciscans were to act as mission administrators who held the land in trust for the Indigenous residents. The Franciscans, however, prolonged their control over the missions even after control of Alta California passed from Spain to independent Mexico, and continued to run the missions until they were secularized, beginning in 1833. The transfer of property never occurred under the Franciscans. As the number of Spanish settlers grew in Alta California, the boundaries and natural resources of the mission properties became disputed. Conflicts between the Crown and the Church arose over land. State and ecclesiastical bureaucrats debated over authority of the missions. The Franciscan priests of
Mission Santa Clara de Asís sent a petition to the governor in 1782 which stated that the
Mission Indians owned both the land and cattle and represented the
Ohlone against the Spanish settlers in nearby San José. The priests reported that Indians' crops were being damaged by the pueblo settlers' livestock and that the settlers' livestock was also "getting mixed up with the livestock belonging to the Indians from the mission" causing losses. They advocated that the Indigenous people be allowed to own property and have the right to defend it.
Province of Alta California In 1804, due to the growth of the Spanish population in new northern settlements, the province of Las Californias was divided just south of San Diego, following mission president Francisco Palóu's division between the Dominican and Franciscan jurisdictions. Governor
Diego de Borica is credited with defining the border between Alta (upper) and
Baja (lower) California's as
Palóu's division, while the division became the political reality under
José Joaquín de Arrillaga, who would become the first governor of Alta California. The
cortes (legislature) of
New Spain issued a decree in 1813 for at least partial secularization that affected all missions in America and was to apply to all outposts that had operated for ten years or more; however, the decree was never enforced in California. The
Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, between the United States and Spain, established the northern limit of Alta California at latitude 42°N, which remains the boundary between the states of California, Nevada and Utah (to the south) and Oregon and Idaho (to the north) to this day. Mexico won independence in 1821, and Alta California became a territory of Mexico the next year.
Independent Mexico (1821–1846) Mexico gained independence from Spain on August 24, 1821, upon conclusion of the decade-long
Mexican War of Independence. As the
successor state to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Mexico automatically included the provinces of Alta California and Baja California as territories. Alta California declared allegiance to the new Mexican nation and elected a representative to be sent to Mexico City. On November 9, 1822, the first legislature of California was created, the
Diputación de Alta California. The change, however, had little practical effect in far-off Alta California. The capital of Alta California remained Monterey, as it had been since the 1769
Portola expedition first established a military/civil government, and the local political structures were unchanged. The friction came to a head in 1836, when Monterey-born
Juan Bautista Alvarado led a revolt against the 1836 constitution, seizing control of Monterey from
Nicolás Gutiérrez. Alvarado's actions nearly led to a civil war with loyalist forces based in Los Angeles, but a ceasefire was arranged. After an unsettled period, Alvarado agreed to support the 1839 constitution, and Mexico City appointed him to serve as governor from 1837 to 1842. Other
Californio governors followed, including
Carlos Antonio Carrillo, and
Pío Pico. The last non-Californian governor,
Manuel Micheltorena, was driven out after another rebellion in 1845. Micheltorena was replaced by Pío Pico, last
Mexican governor of California, who served until 1846 when the U.S. military occupation began.
Early American interest in Alta California Mexican–American War (1846–1848) In the final decades of Mexican rule, American and European immigrants arrived and settled in the former Alta California. Those in
Southern California mainly settled in and around the established coastal settlements and tended to intermarry with the Californios. In Northern California, they mainly formed new settlements further inland, especially in the
Sacramento Valley, and these immigrants focused on fur-trapping and farming and kept apart from the Californios.
headwaters.In 1846, following reports of the annexation of
Texas to the United States, American settlers in inland Northern California took up arms, captured the Mexican garrison town of Sonoma, and declared independence there as the
California Republic. At the same time, the United States and Mexico had gone to war, and forces of the
United States Navy entered into Alta California and took possession of the northern port cities of Monterey and San Francisco. The forces of the California Republic, upon encountering the United States Navy and, from them, learning of the state of war between Mexico and the United States, abandoned their independence and proceeded to assist the United States forces in securing the remainder of Alta California. The California Republic was never recognized by any nation and existed for less than one month, but its flag (the "Bear Flag") survives as the flag of the State of California. After the United States Navy's seizure of the cities of southern California, the Californios formed irregular units, which were victorious in the
Siege of Los Angeles, and after the arrival of the
United States Army, fought in the
Battle of San Pasqual and the
Battle of Domínguez Rancho. But the Californios were defeated in subsequent encounters, the battles of
Río San Gabriel and
La Mesa. The southern Californios formally surrendered with the signing of the
Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. After twenty-seven years as part of independent Mexico, California was ceded to the United States in 1848 with the signing of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The United States paid Mexico
$15 million for the
lands ceded. ==Governors==