Hoffman, Abraham. California Then And Now. New York: Amsco School Publications, 1996.
Exploration And Settlement
After making four voyages across the Atlantic, the explorer Christopher Columbus died
in Spain in 1506. Only four years later, a book was published in Spain that fed the growing
public excitement about unexplored lands in America. Everyone loves a good story, and Las
Sergas de Esplandian (“The Deeds Of Esplandian”) by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo told of
many exciting adventures in faraway places. One episode involved an Amazon queen,
Califia, who was said to rule a distant island called California. A careful reader would have
known that the author was describing a fictional character in a fictional place. But the vast
lands across the Atlantic Ocean were largely unexplored in 1510 when Montalvo published
his book. Many Spanish readers of the novel imagined that California was a real place – an
island of fantastic riches that existed somewhere on the American side of the Atlantic.
Was there in fact an island like the one Montalvo described? For many years, Spanish
explorers in the New World thought that there was.
Cortes and Ulloa
In 1535, Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of the Aztecs, heard intriguing reports
about an island in the Pacific lying a few miles to the west of New Spain (present-day
Mexico). He thought it might be “California,” the fabled island in Montalvo’s book. Cortes sent
an expedition to this so-called island and named it Santa Cruz. (In fact, the newly discovered
land was the Baja Peninsula, or Baja California.) The explorers soon changed their minds
about the “island” of Santa Cruz and believed it might be a peninsula attached to the
mainland. But they could not be sure.
In the late 1530s, the conquerors of New Spain organized several expeditions to
explore lands to the north. They wanted to know if the narrow Sea of Cortes (now called the
Gulf of California) opened out into the Pacific Ocean. In 1539, an expedition under Francisco
de Ulloa sailed up the Gulf of California all the way to the mouth of the Colorado River. Ulloa
concluded, correctly, that what lay ahead was a river (not a narrow extension of the sea). He
inferred – also correctly – that land to the west was probably part of a long peninsula rather
than an island.
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Ulloa was right, but other explorers did not want to believe him. They preferred to believe
instead that the legendary island of California truly existed and that it contained gold and
silver treasures as wonderful as those of the Aztecs and Incas. As time passed, people
began to realize that the “California” imagined by Montalvo was fiction, not fact. Even so,
mapmakers of the 1500s had long used the name California for unexplored lands to the north
and west of New Spain. The name stuck.
Cabrillo’s Expedition
The first European to set foot on the shore of present-day California was Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo. In June 1542, the two ships under Cabrillo’s command set sail from
Navidad on the west coast of New Spain. They continued north for three months, passing the
long western shore of Baja California. Pushing beyond this peninsula, they anchored in a
wide bay, later named San Diego Bay. The expedition continued northward at least as far as
Monterey Bay and perhaps farther. But Cabrillo had suffered a bad injury on the voyage. His
broken leg did not heal properly and became infected. He died on San Miguel Island off the
California coast on January 3, 1543. His second-in-command, Bartolome Ferrelo, completed
the expedition, returning to New Spain with reports about San Diego Bay and other
discoveries.
In sending Cabrillo to explore Alta (Upper) California, the officials of New Spain had
two main purposes. First, they wanted to know whether or not a water route existed for sailing
directly from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. A second purpose of Cabrillo’s voyage was to
look for evidence of gold and silver. Survivors of the Cabrillo expedition brought back
negative answers to both questions. Having answered these questions, the Spanish
government temporarily lost interest in exploring California. Spain at this time had enough to
do consolidating its hold over New Spain, Peru, and other regions conquered in the 1520s
and 1530s.
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Vizcaino’s Voyage
In 1602, the viceroy of New Spain, the
Conde de Monterey, authorized a Spanish
merchant, Sebastian Vizcaino, to lead three small
ships on an expedition to Alta California.
Vizcaino’s chief mission was to find a suitable
harbor for Spanish galleons traveling from
Spain’s Asian colony, the Philippines, to stop and
rest on their way to New Spain. Ignoring the
place names assigned by Cabrillo 60 years
earlier, Vizcaino gave new names that we use
today: San Diego Bay, Santa Catalina Island,
Santa Barbara, and Monterey Bay.
Vizcaino described Monterey Bay in
glowing terms, calling it “the best port that could
be desired.” Here, he wrote, any Philippine
galleon would have an ideal haven for making
repairs and procuring supplies. The viceroy, the
Conde de Monterey, was pleased by Vizcaino’s report. He was flattered by Vizcaino’s
decision to name Monterey Bay after him. But Monterey did not enjoy the good news for long.
Another viceroy came to New Spain to replace Monterey. The new viceroy did not think a
California harbor like Monterey Bay would be of much use to a Philippine galleon. He
promptly put an end to any further exploration of the Pacific Coast. After Vizcaino’s expedition
in 1602, California received no more attention from Spanish explorers.
Overland Exploration and Colonization
Through the 1600s and 1700s, leaders of New Spain attempted to colonize its
northwest frontier by sending expeditions overland from Mexico. Over time, the Spanish
successfully planted colonies in Sonora (a region of northern Mexico) as well as parts of
Texas and New Mexico.
The Frontier Institutions
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Spanish colonization was based on three types of settlement – the mission, the
pueblo, and the presidio.
A Mission was a Christian church and outpost established in a remote area for the
purpose of spreading Christianity to non-Christians. In the New World, priests and friars
belonging to the Jesuit order and the Franciscan order established missions on the frontier to
convert Native Americans to the Roman Catholic faith. They also taught them European
farming techniques, the Spanish language, and skills for making tools and other useful
objects.
A Pueblo was a community (village or town) of farmers and other civilians.
Landowning Spaniards took the lead in founding pueblos on the frontier. Also, at least in
theory, Indians who resided at missions for a period of ten years would be granted their own
pueblos subject to their own rule.
A Presidio was simply a military fort under the command of a Spanish officer. Soldiers
stationed at a presidio protected both missions and pueblos from outside attack.
The mission, pueblo, and presidio were supposed to work together for the common good of
all. Presidios provided protection, pueblos provided food, and missions offered spiritual
guidance. The reality, however, was somewhat different from the theory. Mission priests
frequently quarreled with military commanders over matters of power and policy. Also, the
resources of the Spanish Empire were stretched very thin. It could not send adequate
numbers of soldiers to its distant frontiers nor pay regularly those it did send. Even so, the
combination of mission, pueblo, and presidio worked well enough to secure the far-flung
borders of the Spanish Empire for over 200 years.
A Russian Threat?
Russia was a potential enemy that worried the new governor of New Spain, an
ambitious Spanish lawyer named Jose de Galvez. In the 1700s, the Russian Empire was
expanding eastwards to the Pacific. The eastern tip of Russian Siberia is located only about
50 miles from the western tip of Alaska in North America. When Galvez first arrived in
Mexico, the Russians had already established a few outposts in Alaska. Now they were
moving southward down the coast, hunting sea otters for their valuable fur.
Spain claimed both Upper and Lower California. But Galvez realized that these lands,
if left unoccupied, could easily be lost to a rival power such as Russia or Great Britain.
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Therefore, Galvez decided to organize an expedition to Alta (Upper) California in order to
established permanent Spanish settlements there.
As Galvez well knew, Alta California was not an easy country to reach either by land or
by seas. But one way or another, Galvez was determined to attain his goal. To increase his
chances of success, he decided to send two ships north to San Diego Bay and, at the same
time, send two expeditions overland. Both the ships and the land parties would start out from
one of Baja California’s settlements. Later, this difficult undertaking was given a name – the
Sacred Expedition.
Deadly Journey By Sea
The plan was for the ships and land parties to start out separately and meet at San
Diego, a location last described by Vizcaino almost 170 years earlier. Once assembled at
San Diego, the expedition would proceed again by land and sea to Monterey Bay and there
establish a settlement.
The ships left first. On January 9, 1769, the San Carlos, commanded by Captain
Vicente Vila, set sail from Loreto, a settlement in Baja California. Plagued by lack of wind, the
San Carlos took 110 days to reach San Diego Bay. The crew ran out of fresh vegetables and
fruit. One after another, they came down with scurvy, the disease caused by lack of vitamin
C.
The second ship, the San Antonio, left Loreto in February. Captain Juan Perez’s ship
took just 54 days to reach San Diego Bay. It arrived ahead of the San Carlos even though it
had begun its voyage three weeks later than the first ship. When the San Carlos finally did
arrive, the San Antonio’s crew were shocked by the other crew’s desperate condition.
Even worse news was to come. Galvez had commissioned a third ship, the San Jose,
to bring additional supplies to the San Diego meeting place. The San Jose set sail on June
16. It was not heard from again. At some point during its voyage, the ship had sunk. There
were no survivors.
Land Expeditions
Those taking the overland route to Alta California had much better luck than the
unfortunate sailors. Galvez split the overland travelers into two groups. The first group, led by
Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada, left Loreto on March 24 (about five weeks after the
second ship had left). After six weeks, Rivera’s group arrived at San Diego Bay on May 14.
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They were shocked to find how poorly the sailors had fared. A third of them were already
dead, and more were dying.
The second part of the overland expedition left Loreto on May 15, following the rough
road hacked by Rivera’s group. The leaders of this second group were the Spanish captain,
Gaspar de Portola, and the Franciscan padre, Junipero Serra. The group led by Portola and
Serra arrived at San Diego Bay in late June after a six-week trek. It was obvious that the
expedition was in poor shape and could not continue northward as originally planned. In spite
of the weakened condition of his forces, Portola decided to push on. He decided to leave
about half the men at San Diego and take the healthy half with him on a long hike to
Monterey Bay – the main objective of the Sacred Expedition.
Before leaving for Monterey Bay, Portola created a presidio, and Father Serra founded a
mission at San Diego. Thus, by the summer of 1769, the future state of California had its first
permanent Spanish settlement.
North To Monterey
On July 14, 1769, Portola and Serra led 62 other men, including mission Indians, on
the long journey up the coast to Monterey. One of the Franciscan padres, Father Juan
Crespi, kept a diary – a detailed day-by-day account of the historic expedition. Among the
things that impressed him about the California landscape were the potentially good farmland
and the tar pits that oozed oil (what we know of today as the La Brea Tar Pits). Father Crespi
also recorded the first mention of earthquakes in California history. (No doubt, there had been
earlier earthquakes, but California’s Indians had no written language to record them.)
At last, the company entered the Salinas Valley and drew near a bay that was in fact
Monterey – only Portola did not believe it. He relied on the descriptions of Monterey Bay
given nearly 170 years earlier by the explorer Vizcaino. Portola could not believe that this
was the greatly praised harbor for which the Sacred Expedition had sacrificed so much. He
decided to continue northward.
Discovery Of San Francisco Bay
Portola sent one of his soldiers, Sergeant Jose Ortega, to inspect a bay that had been
suggested as a possible site for a mission. The bay that Ortega and his men gazed at on
November 2, 1769, was spectacular and beautifully sheltered. It was San Francisco Bay. But
Portola was not overjoyed with the news of this discovery. He knew that this bay could not be
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Monterey, since nothing like it had been described by previous explorers. Discouraged, he
returned to San Diego.
Journey’s End
Portola found his little settlement at San Diego to be in worse shape than when he left.
Indians in the region had attacked the settlement, and more men had died. On March 19,
1770, the San Antonio appeared with supplies of corn, flour, and rice revived the expedition.
Portola ordered the ship’s captain, Perez, to sail
to the wide bay that he now knew was Monterey.
Portola and 16 soldiers again marched
northward. They reached the bay in only 37
days. Erecting a few wooden posts to suggest a
settlement, Portola established a presidio at
Monterey on June 3, 1770. Father Serra moved
a few miles form the bay to found a mission at
what became Carmel.
Struggle For Settlement
Quarrels, hunger, and desertion marked
the first years of Spanish settlements in San
Diego and Monterey. The Franciscan
missionaries had come to California to convert
the Indians to Christianity, to teach them
European ways, and to make them loyal
subjects of the king of Spain. Almost
immediately, the religious goals of the
missionaries came into conflict with the behavior of the soldiers. Only men had taken part in
the Sacred Expedition. Soldiers brutally attacked and raped Indian women near the Spanish
settlements. As a result, the missionaries had a hard time winning the Indians’ trust. The
padres urged that the soldiers be punished for their crimes against women, but the military
commanders refused to do so. They argued that they had trouble enough enforcing discipline
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in such a remote place and worried that the soldiers might simply walk off, deserting their
posts.
Missionaries and soldiers also clashed over the issue of where and how many
missions should be started. While traveling with Portola to San Francisco Bay, Father Serra
had spotted a number of choice locations for missions. He could hardly wait to carry out his
ambitious dream. In 1771, he founded two missions south of Monterey (Mission San Antonio
de Padua and Mission San Gabriel Archangle). The next year, he founded his fifth mission at
San Luis Obispo. But Serra was not satisfied. He argued that only two padres were needed
for each mission and that that the 20 padres in his charge could operate several more new
missions.
Creating An Overland Route
The biggest single problem of the California colonists was the unreliable supply
system. Was there a better overland route to California than the one used by Portola and
Serra in 1770? So thought a Spanish officer named Juan Bautista de Anza, who volunteered
to lead an expedition to open up a new overland trail.
Anza started out from Sonora (northern Mexico) on January 8, 1774. Following Anza
on his Sonora-to –California trail were 3 officers, 40 soldiers, 30 mule drivers, 3 missionaries,
and 165 women, men, and children – a total of 240 people. Anza also brought hundreds of
horses and cattle and even two pairs of cats. In March 1774, the party arrived at San Gabriel
mission. The trail from Sonora to Alta California had been established.
Founding Of San Francisco
Having opened up an overland trail, Anza agreed to lead another expedition to Alta
California. On October 23, 1775, Anza’s caravan set out. By January 1776, his second
expedition had reached the San Gabriel mission. Anza next proceeded to Monterey. From
there, a party was sent north to establish a mission and presidio in San Francisco Bay. Thus,
in the fall of 1776, California had its third presidio, San Francisco, and sixth mission, San
Francisco de Asis (popularly known as Mission Dolores). Both establishments were named
after the founder of the Franciscan order, Saint Francis of Assisi.
A New Beginning
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Anza’s twofold achievement meant a lot to the development of Spanish California. His
first expedition (1774) opened a vital connection between northern Mexico and Alta
California. His second expedition (1775 to 1776) had brought women and children to
California. Their presence would help to create a secure and growing colony, not just a
military outpost or mission station. The 355 head of cattle brought on the second expedition
would eventually expand into great herds of thousands of head of cattle by the 1830s – the
basis of a major California industry.
In effect, the Anza expeditions marked the end of the struggle for settlement and the
beginning of the effective colonization of California. There would still be obstacles and
troubles, but the worst difficulties were now behind the California pioneers.
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