Explorers Brochure: Instructions and Rubric · Meanwhile, the other expedition, led by Ruy Lopez de...
Transcript of Explorers Brochure: Instructions and Rubric · Meanwhile, the other expedition, led by Ruy Lopez de...
INSTRUCTIONS
You will create a digital brochure, using Google Docs, about six
explorers who explored Alta & Baja California, from 1535 - 1769.
For each explorer you need to include the explorer’s…
1. Name
2. Year of birth and death
3. Description of major (most important) exploration/trip. You must also include why
the exploration that he took was important, and when it happened.
4. Which country he sailed/explored on behalf of
5. One image to go with that explorer (it can be their picture, or a picture of the
route they took, or whatever you think is a good fit)
The brochure has 6 panels, to be organized as follows:
Panel 1: Cover/Title
Panel 2: 2 explorers
Panel 3: 2 explorers
Panel 4: 1 explorer
Panel 5: 1 explorer
Panel 6: address/stamp, for sending the brochure
Here are some resources to help you:
1. Information about the explorers that Ms. Dekker has compiled
2. Your CA Studies Weekly – Week 10 color newspaper
3. Video searches you can do at your Discovery Education account
4. Some additional websites/articles at History.com:
a. Cabrillo:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cabrillo-discovers-san-diego-
bay/print
b. Vizcaino: go to the 5th paragraph for a brief statement about Vizcaino
www.history.com/topics/mexico/baja-california
5. Some additional videos at History.com:
a. Cortez: What happened to the Aztecs?
http://www.history.com/topics/aztecs/videos/ask-history-what-
happened-to-the-aztecs (2 min)
b. Cortez: When the Spanish first meet the Aztecs
www.history.com/topics/aztecs/videos/aztec-encounter (2min)
c. Cortez: The prophecy of the Aztec God, Quexalcote. Was he Cortez?
www.history.com/topics/aztecs/videos/prophecy-of-
quexalcote?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false (3 min)
Explorers Brochure: Instructions and Rubric
RUBRIC POINTS EVALUATION
_____/5 Information and image about Hernan Cortez
_____/5 Information and image about Juan Cabrillo
_____/5 Information and image about Francis Drake
_____/5 Information and image about Sebastian Vizcaino
_____/5 Information and image about James Cook
_____/5 Information and image about Gaspar de Portola (with Junipero Serra
and Juan Crespi)
_____/5 General info about the explorers and that time period
_____/5 Accurate
_____/5 Neat and creative
_____/45 TOTAL
Go to your Google Drive to download and
make a copy of the Brochure Template.
This will show you where the information goes on the digital brochure.
HERNAN CORTES Born: 1485
Died: 1547
Nationality: Spanish (Spain)
General Information:
He was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of
the Aztec empire and brought large portions of what now is mainland Mexico
under the rule of the Spanish.
He was the part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first
phase of the Spanish colonization of South, Central and North America.
Biography:
Cortés was born in the small town of Medellín, Spain, in 1485. While at the
University of Salamanca, he became interested in the voyages of such
explorers as Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus. Cortés dreamed of
sailing to the Americas. He decided to follow his dream.
In 1504, at the age of 18, Cortes decided to travel to Hispaniola become a
colonist in this new Spanish colony (Hispaniola is now called Haiti and the
Dominican Republic). He got a good job and earned the trust of Diego
Velasquez
Velazquez, who decided to explore and conquer Cuba in 1511, asked Cortes
to join him. They were successful, but it did not satisfy the Spanish craving for
gold. Velazquez heard about the wealthy Aztec empire in Mexico, and
wanted to have some of this gold for himself.
In 1518, Velazquez put Cortes in charge of an expedition to explore and
secure the inland areas of Mexico for colonization.
Map of
Cortes’
route from
Cuba to
the areas
now
known as
Mexico.
The first
place
Cortes
landed
was the Yucatan peninsula area, which was Mayan territory. Luckily for Cortes,
he met Geronimo Aguilar, who was a shipwrecked Spaniard that knew the
language of the Indians and became an interpreter for Cortes.
Then he proceeded to Tabasco and won a battle against the natives. Twenty
women slaves were given to Cortes by the Tabasco Indians. One of the women
was named La Malinche. She ended up becoming Cortes’ mistress and mother
of his child, Martín (Martin is considered one of the first Mestizos, people of mixed
European and indigenous American ancestry). Malinche knew both the Aztec
(called Nahuatl) and Mayan language, thus enabling Hernán Cortés to
communicate in both. She became a very valuable interpreter and counselor.
Through her help, Cortés learned from the Tabascans about the wealthy Aztec
Empire and its riches.
Cortes then continued to travel along the coast and founded La Villa Rica de
Vera Cruz (now, Veracruz), the first Spanish colony in Mexico.
In August 1519 Cortes began a journey inland toward the Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlan. Believing that Cortes was an Aztec god, the Aztec king,
Montezuma II welcomed him into the city. Cortes took advantage of this to
kidnap Montezuma II and take control of the Aztec empire.
In 1520 Cortés left Tenochtitlan to meet with Spanish officials in Cuba, leaving
Pedro de Alvarado in charge. While Cortés was gone, Alvarado killed many
Aztecs while they were taking part in a religious festival. The Aztecs then attacked
the Spanish soldiers. Outnumbered by the Aztecs, the soldiers retreated. In August
1521 Cortés returned and defeated the Aztecs. He claimed for Spain all the land
the Aztecs ruled. King Charles I of Spain was pleased with Cortés' work and made
him governor of the new territory.
Cortés spent the next few years gaining more land in what is today central and
southern Mexico. The Spanish named this area New Spain. Tenochtitlan later
became known as Mexico City.
Cortés also introduced the Christian religion to many of the native people.
In 1524 Cortés explored Honduras in Central America. He traveled to Baja
California in northwestern Mexico in 1535. He returned to Spain in 1540.
JUAN CABRILLO Born: ? (maybe 1499?)
Died: 1543
Nationality: Portugese (Portugal). But, he sailed for Spain.
Cabrillo was a Portuguese explorer noted for his exploration of the west
coast of North America on behalf of Spain. Cabrillo was the first
European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the
United States. He helped found the city of Oaxaca, in Mexico.
Biography:
The Young Conqueror
We know little of Cabrillo's early years until 1519 when his
name appears in the ranks of those who served in the army of famous
conquistador Hernan Cortes. In the terrible battles between the Aztecs and the
Spanish, Cabrillo fought as a captain of crossbowmen.
After the defeat of the Aztecs, Cabrillo joined other Spanish military expeditions in
what is today southern Mexico, Guatemala, and San Salvador. Eventually Cabrillo
settled in Guatemala. There he received encomienda's --long term leases for
land uses such as gold mining and farming, along with the right to use forced
Indian labor for these projects. The king of Spain granted encomiendas as a
reward for services to the crown.
A Businessman and Leading Citizen of Guatemala
By the mid-1530's, Cabrillo established himself as a leading citizen of Guatemala's
primary town, Santiago. Later, in 1540, an earthquake destroyed Santiago.
Cabrillo's report to the crown on the earthquake's destruction is the first known
piece of secular (non faith based) journalism written in the New World.
Meanwhile, in 1532, Cabrillo traveled to Spain where he met Beatriz Sanchez de
Ortega. The two married that year and Cabrillo returned with her to Guatemala
where she bore two sons.
As the Cabrillo family grew, so did his wealth and reputation as a ship builder.
Using a port on Guatemala's Pacific Coast, Cabrillo imported and exported
goods in the developing trade between Guatemala, Spain and other parts of the
New World. The ships he used for this trade were constructed in Guatemala using
skilled labor and ideas Cabrillo brought back from Spain and the physical labor of
Native Americans. Some of these ships would play a vital role in Spain's early
efforts to explore the Pacific.
Why Explore California?
The Governor of Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado, selected Cabrillo to build and
provision ships to explore the Pacific because of his skills as a leader and
businessman. Alvarado planned to use the ships to establish a trading route
between Central America and the Spice Islands off of Asia. When Alvarado died
during an Indian uprising, his business partner, the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio
de Mendoza, prompted Cabrillo to lead one of two expeditions to explore the
Pacific. Cabrillo accepted and soon set out to explore the coast north and west
of New Spain (Mexico). Meanwhile, the other expedition, led by Ruy Lopez de
Villalobos, sailed directly across the Pacific to the Philippines. While this expedition
did reach the Philippines, Villalobos was killed in a mutiny and the hungry,
disheartened crew eventually surrendered to a Portuguese garrison in the Spice
Islands.
The Cabrillo expedition sailed out of the port of Navidad, near modern day
Manzanillo, on June 24, 1542. Accompanying Cabrillo were a crew of sailors,
soldiers, Indian and probably black slaves, merchants, a priest, livestock and
provisions for two years. Three ships, the flagship built by Cabrillo himself, were
under his command.
Exploring California
One hundred and three days into the journey, Cabrillo's ships entered San Diego
bay. He probably landed at Ballast Point where he claimed the land for Spain.
Cabrillo described the bay as "a closed and very good harbor," which he called
San Miguel. The name San Miguel was changed to San Diego 60 years later by
another explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino.
The expedition continued north to Monterey Bay and may have reached as far
north as Point Reyes before storms forced the ships to turn back. Interestingly, the
expedition failed to sight San Francisco Bay, which remained undiscovered until
1769. Discouraged by foul weather, Cabrillo decided to winter in the Channel
Islands. There, after a fall incurred during a brief skirmish with natives, Cabrillo
shattered a limb and died of
complications on January 3,
1543.
Following Cabrillo's death,
the disheartened crew again
sailed north -- this time under
the leadership Bartolome
Ferrer. The expedition may
have reached latitude as far
north as the Rogue River in
Oregon but thrashing winter
winds and spoiled supplies
forced them to return to
Mexico.
Replica of Cabrillo’s galleon, San Salvador
FRANCIS DRAKE, “NAVAL ADVENTURER” Born: sometime between 1535 - 1544
Died: 1596
Nationality: British (English/England)
Biography: Francis Drake was a …
British explorer
slave-trader
privateer (a pirate working for a government) in the
service of England
mayor of Plymouth, England
naval officer (he was an Admiral).
Drake started his sea career when he became an
apprentice member of a crew that traded ships between the Thames River and the
ports across the English Channel.
At age twenty-three, he went on slave-trading voyages to Guinea in West Africa.
Drake made his first voyage to the New World, sailing, in company with his second
cousin, Sir John Hawkins (Hawkins’ family owned the fleet of ships).
In 1568 he was again with the Hawkins fleet, on
a slave-trading trip, when it was trapped by
the Spaniards in the Mexican port of San Juan
de Ulua. The Spanish did not want the English
competing in their highly profitable slave-
trading business. The Spanish sunk most of his
ships, but he and Hawkins escaped. This
experience is said to have led him to his
lifelong revenge against the Spanish.
In December of 1577, he set off with his ship,
the Golden Hind, to attempt to sail all the way
around the world. He had the best-equipped
expedition ever launched by England -- 5 stout
ships, well armed, and a crew of 150 men. He
and his crew successfully completed this trip in
1580.
A modern replica of
Drake’s ship, the
Golden Hind
On June 17, 1579,
during his trip
around the world,
Drake reached
the northwest
coast of the North
American
continent. He
landed
somewhere north
of Spain’s
northern-most
claim at Point
Loma. He found
a good port,
landed, repaired
and restocked his
vessels, then
stayed for a time,
keeping friendly
relations with the
natives. He
claimed the
land for
England and called it Nova Albion. The precise location of the port was carefully
guarded to keep it secret from the Spaniards, and several of Drake's maps may even
have been altered to this end. The extent of New Albion and the location of Drake's
landing have long been debated by historians, with most believing that he came
ashore somewhere on the coast of northern California.
The English and Spanish were in many battles that later resulted in a war. In this
war, England crushed the Spanish Armada in 1588 and became the dominant
world power. Drake helped the British defeat the Spanish Armada; he was second
in command. The Spanish called him El Draque, meaning "The Dragon."
Other information:
Drake’s parents had 12 sons! Francis was the eldest.
Drake married twice. He did not have any children.
Francis Drake lived most of his life during the reign of the English monarch,
Elizabeth I. Elizabeth reigned from 1558 to 1606.
Drake actively plundered Spanish ships, in an unofficial war. Queen Elizabeth
would accept the resulting booty, but would denounce Drake’s actions when
politically necessary.
Drake was knighted on his ship "The Golden Hind" by Queen Elizabeth.
Drake's landing in California, engraving published in 1590 by Theodor
De Bry
Under his commander, John Hawkins, Drake transported slaves from Africa to
the West Indies.
Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate around the word. His
voyage took place from 1577 to 1580. (Magellan, a Spaniard, led the first
voyage around the world.)
In 1587 Drake famously "singed the King of Spain's beard" by sinking 33 ships the
Spanish harbor of Cadiz. This attack gave England a year's grace to bolster its
defenses.
The Spanish Armada attacked England in 1588. At the time, Drake was
supposedly playing a game called, “bowls.” Legend has it that when told of
the approaching danger, Drake replied that he had enough time to win the
game and thrash the Spaniards too.
The coastal area of California was originally named "New Albion" by Drake.
Drake died from dysentery. He was buried at sea in a leaded coffin.
Portrait miniature of Sir
Francis Drake painted in
1581 by the limner Nicholas
Hilliard
SEBASTIAN VIZCAINO Born: 1548 (or 1550?)
Died: 1624 (or 1627?)
Nationality: Spanish (Spain)
Biography:
Sebastian was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose
varied roles took him to New Spain, the Philippines, the Baja California
peninsula, the California coast and Japan.
Sebastian Vizcaino was born into a family of successful merchants in
Extremadura, Spain, in 1548. In 1580 - 1583 he led a cavalry unit in the Spanish
reoccupation of Portugal. In 1586 he went to New Spain (Mexico) and from there
moved on to Manila, Philippines, where he worked successfully in the China trade
for three years. In 1589 he returned to Mexico City, married and settled down to
raise a family. In June 1596 he started an expedition from Acapulco to the Sea of
Cortes in an effort to exploit the pearl fisheries. During this expedition he named
the small port of La Paz in Baja California. He was unsuccessful in his search for
pearls and returned to Acapulco in November of the same year.
In 1601 the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico City, Conde de Monterey, made Vizcaino
the general in charge of an expedition to locate a safe harbor in Alta California
for Spanish Galleons to use on their return to Acapulco from Manila. He was also
instructed to map the coastline, since it hadn’t been done since Cabrillo did the
same 60 years prior. He departed Acapulco with three ships on May 5, 1602. His
flag ship was the San Diego and the other two ships were the San Tomas and the
Tres Reyes. On November 10, 1602, he entered and named San Diego Bay. Sailing
up the coast Vizcaino named most of the prominent features (thus taking away
the names given to these same features by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542).
On December 13, 1602 Vizcaino entered what he considered to be the finest bay
on the coast of California. He named it Monterey Bay after his patron the Conde
de Monterey. Vizcaino went ashore on December 17 and celebrated mass.
(While in Monterey Bay he sent the San Tomas back to Acapulco with those of his
party who were sick or injured. Twenty five of the thirty four men on the ship died
on route.) On January 3, 1603 Vizcaino sailed north reaching Drake's Bay in the
San Diego on January 8. During a storm he took shelter behind a point of land
that he named Punta de los Reyes - today's Point Reyes. (On shore he met with
Indians who remembered both Drake and Cermenon's visits.) The Tres Reyes had
gotten separated from the flag ship in the storm but both ships continued north.
The San Diego appears to have gotten as far as a cape that Vizcaino named
Cabo Blanco de San Sebastian (probably today's Cape Blanco). The Tres Reyes
appears to have gone as far as the Coquille River. The two ships returned to
Acapulco, Vizcaino reaching the port on February 21, 1603.
Having accomplished his mission to the satisfaction of his superiors in Mexico City
and Madrid, Vizcaino was well received upon his return to New Spain. In 1607 he
was named General of the Manilla Galleons and given considerable monetary
rewards. In 1608 he recommended to Madrid that Monterey be colonized and
began preparations for accomplishing that objective. In 1610 Rodrigo de Vivera,
former Governor of the Philippines, returned to New Spain and recommended
the establishment of relations with Japan. Vizcaino was ordered to drop the
Monterey plan and was named to be Spain's first Ambassador to Japan. (He was
also instructed to find the fabled Ilas Ricas.) On March 22, 1611 he departed
Acapulco and arrived in Uraga, Japan sometime in June 1611. After extensive
delays and meetings with the Shogun, Tokugawa Iyeyasu, he spent four months
mapping Japanese waters. He continued the effort to find the Islas Ricas during
much of 1612. By 1613 he was unsuccessful in finding the mythical islands but he
did convince the Shogun to send his ambassadors to Spain. (Japan's first embassy
in Europe. All five ambassadors were executed on their return to Japan because
they had adopted Christianity.)
In 1614 Vizcaino retired in Sayula,
Spain but was recalled to active
duty after the Dutch fleet sailed
into Acapulco and took what
they wanted without opposition.
Vizcaino returned to Acapulco
and successfully ambushed a
Dutch resupply effort. He was
made Alcalde of Acapulco. He
served there until 1619 when he
retired to Mexico City. He died in
Mexico City in 1624 at the age of
eighty.
An actor portrays Vizcaino in a
modern play
JAMES COOK, “THE KING OF NAVIGATORS” Born: 1728
Died: 1779
Nationality: British (English/England)
Short Biography of Captain James Cook
Historically recognized as one of the most gifted
and prolific navigators in the world, Captain
James Cook was also a cartographer whose
contributions led to what would become an
entire mapping of the Pacific Ocean. His methods
of exploration were careful, calculated, and
scientific in nature. These attributes would mean that he would be sent on some of the
most important of voyages under the British Crown.
Born into what biographers consider was a poverty-stricken family, young James was
determined to find his way in the world and to lead a life of adventure and exploration.
His first ventures were into the Baltic Sea until he served with the Royal Navy where
within only four years he worked his way to master an entire vessel. The Royal Navy sent
him to Canada to survey the eastern coasts of the country where his notes, maps, and
sketches were published.
Around this time, Captain Cook began thinking about the reasons why some shipmates
survived ocean crossings and while others did not. Being a captain meant that he had
adequate food and nourishment. He began making sure that all his hands were fed
properly and given nutrient-rich foods. This contribution to sailing would mean that he
would statistically lose fewer men on his journeys than any other captain.
Captain Cook’s first explorative voyage sent him to the Pacific Ocean. He set a due
course past the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands and below Cape Horn. He
made it to Tahiti and continued onward to modern day New Zealand and there
accurately mapped the entire perimeter of both islands. He then founded New South
Wales in Australia and continued westward below the Cape of Good Hope to England,
which meant that he had successfully circumnavigated the globe.
His second voyage saw him on an even more important navigation on a ship called
Adventure. He continued into the Pacific and explored Easter Island, Tonga, and even
discovered New Caledonia and Norfolk. He returned to England and his fame as one of
England’s most prominent explorers of the Pacific. In Captain Cooks third and final
journey, he was put in charge of finding a new route that would allow Britain to move
from the Pacific to the Atlantic without having to go below South America. He and his
crew eventually landed on and discovered Christmas Island and the entire chain of the
Hawaiian Islands. He landed in what is now the northwest United States and sailed south
along the coast looking for a passage to the Pacific. Finding none, he returned to the
Hawaiian Islands and in a skirmish was killed.
Facts:
Cook was known for his concern for the health of his crew, adding lemon and lime juice
to their diet to prevent scurvy. He convinced his men to eat fruit and vegetables my
telling them that the produce was “officers’ food.”
He had a great desire to spread western culture and the Christian religion among
native peoples.
He explored more of the earth's surface than any other person in those years, including
Tahiti, coast of New Zealand, eastern Australia, Antarctica, some of the island groups in
the South Pacific, and Hawaii (was called the Sandwich Islands). He was the first
European to sail to the Arctic and Antarctic circles.
The people of the Sandwich Islands offer gifts to James Cook.
In 1759, Cook charted the St. Lawrence River in North America.
He sailed around the world 2 times (in 1771 and 1775).
He and his wife, Elizabeth, had 6 kids. Elizabeth outlived all her children, dying at 93.
Cook's eldest son, James reached the age of 31.
In 1768, Cook sailed to the Tahiti islands to observe the transit of Venus across the sun.
A future famous British naval officer, Bligh, served with Cook on one of his voyages.
William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of HMS Bounty in 1787 to sail
to Tahiti and return with breadfruit.
Endeavor, was the name of Cook’s ship that he used to explore Australia. Did you
know that a piece of the Endeavour was taken to the moon in the Apollo 15 lunar
module? Wow, very interesting!
Cook died in Hawaii in a fight with native Hawaiians during his third exploratory
voyage in the Pacific on February 14, 1779.
Cook’s first voyage, from 1768 - 1771
GASPAR DE PORTOLA Born: 1723
Died: 1784
Nationality: Spanish
Gaspar De Portola was a Spanish military officer, the first
governor of Upper California, and the founder of two
California cities, Monterey and San Diego. He headed
the Spanish expedition that established the first missions
in Alta California.
Biography:
Gaspar de Portolá was born at Balaguer in the province of Catalonia. As a young
man, he joined the army and soon rose to the rank of captain of dragoons in the
España Regiment. In 1767, as a reward for his services, Charles III named Portolá
governor of Baja (Lower) California, and Portolá set out for Mexico to assume his
new post. His first task as governor was an unpleasant one. The Spanish monarch
had decreed the expulsion of the Jesuit order from Spain and its dominions, and
Portolá was charged with removing the Jesuits from Baja California, an
assignment he carried out with compassion and dispatch.
About this time fear of Russian intrusion from the north convinced the Spaniards of
the need to expand their settlements into Alta (Upper) California. José de Gálvez,
visitor general of New Spain, quickly organized a plan of occupation under the
overall command of Portolá. Two ships, the San Carlos and San Antonio, sailed
north early in 1769, while two land parties, one commanded by Rivera y
Moncada and Fray Juan Crespi and the other under Portolá accompanied by
Fray Junípero Serra (Catholic priest/missionary), left a few months later. With the
Rivera party ahead to open the trail, the two groups moved north. Rivera
reached San Diego in May, and Portolá's party arrived in late June.
Although food was critically short and many of the men were ill, Portolá
immediately set out to find the reported harbor of Monterey. Moving north from
San Diego, he selected several possible mission sites, passed Monterey without
recognizing the spot, and explored the region around San Francisco Bay before
returning to San Diego in late January 1770. During the spring Portolá returned
north and successfully located Monterey, where he and Serra established Mission
San Carlos. Shortly thereafter Portolá returned to Baja California, where he
remained as governor for several years.
In 1776 Portolá became governor of Puebla. Probably at this time he published his
Diario histórico, the journal of the California expedition. Portolá served in Puebla
until 1784, when he retired from active service and returned to Spain.
JUNIPERO SERRA
Born: 1713
Died: 1784
Nationality: Spanish
A priest in the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church, Junipero
Serra was an important influence in the Spanish conquest and
colonization of what is now the state of California.
Biography:
Serra was born into a humble family on the Spanish island of
Mallorca in the Mediterranean Ocean. His parents sent him
to a nearby Franciscan school, and his intellectual abilities soon caught the
attention of his teachers. At age fifteen he enrolled in a well-known Franciscan
school in the nearby city of Palma. The next year he began in the Franciscan
order and shortly thereafter was ordained as a priest.
Serra's intelligence and enormous willpower helped him get an appointment as a
professor of theology at the young age of twenty-four. Six years later, in 1743, he
became a professor at the famous Lullian University.
Despite his success, Serra hungered for something more. In 1749 he received
permission to travel with some other Franciscans who intended to devote
themselves to work at a mission near Mexico City. Serra took the long sea voyage
to Spain's colonies. Despite becoming sick on the voyage, he insisted on walking
from Vera Cruz (where the boat landed) all the way to Mexico City, a distance of
over two hundred miles. This was the first of many accomplishments of physical
stamina and willpower which were to make the Franciscan a legend in his own
time.
For some fifteen years, Serra worked in Mexico at much the same tasks as he had
in Spain, although he took on missionary work to nearby Indian peoples in
addition to preaching, hearing confessions, and helping to administrate Mexico
City's College of San Fernando.
In 1767 the Spanish emperor's expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain's colonies led the
government to ask the Franciscan Order to replace them as missionaries in Baja
(lower) California. Serra was appointed head of these missions. The next year the
Spanish governor decided to explore and found missions in Alta (upper)
California, the area which is now the state of California. This project was intended
both to Christianize the extensive Indian populations and to serve Spain's strategic
interest by preventing Russian explorations and possible claims to North America's
Pacific coast.
Serra spent the rest of
his life as head of the
Franciscans in Alta
California. Already over
fifty years old,
dangerously thin,
asthmatic, and seriously
injured in one of his
legs, the undaunted
Serra led the founding
of the Mission of San
Diego in 1769, aided an
expedition in locating
San Francisco Bay, and
personally founded
eight other missions,
including his lifelong headquarters, the mission San Carlos Borromeo at Carmel.
His Herculean efforts subjected him to near-starvation, afflictions of scurvy, and
hundreds of miles of walking and horse riding through dangerous terrain. Also, he
was notorious for his mortifications of the flesh: wearing heavy shirts with sharp
wires pointed inward, whipping himself to the point of bleeding, and using a
candle to scar the flesh of his chest. His sacrifices bore fruit for the missionaries; by
his death in 1784, the nine missions he had founded had a nominally converted
Indian population of nearly 5,000.
Serra argued with the Spanish Army over the proper authority of the Franciscans
in Alta California, which he thought should be in authority over military
commanders. In 1773 he convinced the authorities in Mexico City to increase
financial and military support for expansion of his missions, and to expand the
authority of the Franciscans over both the army and the baptized mission Indians.
He also urged Mexican officials to establish an overland route to Alta California, a
suggestion which led to colonizing expeditions from New Mexico which
established civilian settlements at San Francisco in 1776 and at Los Angeles in
1781.
Serra wielded this kind of political power because his missions served economic
and political purposes as well as religious ends. The number of civilian colonists in
Alta California never exceeded 3,200, and the missions with their Indian
populations were critical to keeping the region within Spain's political orbit.
Economically, the missions produced all of the colony's cattle and grain, and by
the 1780's were even producing surpluses sufficient to trade with Mexico for luxury
goods.
Despite the frequent conflicts between military and religious authority, for Alta
California's Indians the missions and their Franciscan administrators were part and
Mission of San
Diego
parcel of an enormously destructive colonization process. The Spanish, largely
through disease, were responsible for a population decline from about 300,000
Indians in 1769 to about 200,000 by 1821. The strenuous work regime and high
population density within the missions themselves also caused high death rates
among the mission Indians. By law, all baptized Indians subjected themselves
completely to the authority of the Franciscans; they could be whipped, shackled
or imprisoned for disobedience, and hunted down if they fled the mission
grounds. Indian recruits, who were often forced to convert nearly at gunpoint,
could be expected to survive mission life for only about ten years. As one Friar
noted, the Indians "live well free but as soon as we reduce them to a Christian
and community life... they fatten, sicken, and die."
Junipero Serra is still a well-known figure in California, a virtual icon of the colonial
era whose statue stands in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and in the U.S.
Capital. In 1987 Pope John Paul II beatified Serra, the second of three steps
necessary for the Church's bestowal of formal sainthood. Many Indians and
academics condemned this decision, pointing to the harsh conditions of mission
life and Serra's own justification of beatings. (In 1780, Serra wrote: "that spiritual
fathers should punish their sons, the Indians, with blows appears to be as old as
the conquest of [the Americas]; so general in fact that the saints do not seem to
be any exception to the rule.") Defenders of Serra cited the context of his times,
his enormous personal sacrifices and religious zeal, and his opposition to punitive
military expeditions against the Indians as exonerating factors. More than two
centuries after his death, Junipero Serra is still a pivotal figure in California history
and the history of the American West, this time as a flashpoint for controversy over
European treatment of Indians.
JUAN CRESPI
Born: 1721
Died: 1782
Nationality: Spanish
Juan was a priest in the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church. He explored the coast
of California with Gaspar de Portola and Junipero Serra.
Biography
Born in 1721, Father Juan Crespi arrived in the Americas in 1749, eager to bring
the Catholic faith to the distant boundaries of the Spanish empire. Crespi found
assignments in Baja California and joined Father Junípero Serra on his expeditions.
Crespi first came to California as part of Gaspar de Portolá's 1769 overland
expedition to colonize Alta California. He was present at the founding of Mission
San Diego in 1769. In 1770 he served as the founding priest of Mission San Carlos
Borromeo, which later became known as the Carmel Mission.
In addition to his role as an explorer and spiritual leader, Crespi kept journals of his
travels, some of which survive. The journals describe his overland journey from
Baja to Alta California in 1769, his encounter with a band of native California
Indians on the way to San Diego, and his explorations of the Pacific as far north as
Canada in 1774. Father Crespi died in 1782.
The cemetery at
Mission Carmel, where
both Serra and Crespi
are buried.
Map of the port of
San Francisco, from
the diary of Juan
Crespi