Missions
The Spanish empire rested upon the inclusion, transformation, and exploitation of the Native peoples of the Americas. Central to the success of this enterprise was the mission, a frontier institution designed to advance the empire as well as to convert Indians to Roman Catholicism.
Junípero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan, arrived in California in 1769 as a leader of what came to be called the Sacred Expedition. He founded California's first nine missions and served as father-president of the mission system. The proposed canonization of Serra in recent years has sparked an intense debate among scholars; headlines in the popular press asked the question "Saint or Sinner?"
After Serra's death, Fermín Francisco de Lasuén became father-president and doubled the number of California missions. Founding a mission was always the occasion of solemn ceremony including fervent prayers by the missionary priests. Mission architecture evolved slowly and reflected a variety of influences from Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
The missionaries used various methods of recruitment to gather the Native people to the missions. Once at the missions, the Indians received religious instruction as well as training in practical skills. Mission Indian testimony often described the missions as oppressive institutions and Native resistance took a variety of forms.
La Pérouse and Vancouver both produced insightful commentaries and detailed renderings of Spanish California while visiting California in the late 1780s and 90s. These and other documents are prime sources for our understanding of these early years of California history.