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Spanische Missionen in Kalifornien

Missionsstationen aus der Zeit zwischen 1769 und 1823 von Franziskanern im heutigen US-Bundesstaat Kalifornien
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Vorlage:SpanishMissions The Spanish Missions in California (more simply referred to as the "California Missions") comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans, to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans. The missions gave Spain a valuable toehold in the frontier land, and introduced European livestock, fruits, vegetables, and industry into the California region. Eventually, a network of missions was established wherein each of the installations was no more than a long day's ride by horse or boat from another.

As early as the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the Kingdom of Spain sought to establish missions to promote Christianity in Nueva España (New Spain, consisting of the Caribbean, of Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States), in order to facilitate colonization of these lands. The modern region "California" refers to the Spanish territory known as Alta California (chiefly the current U.S. state of California) and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. It was not until (with the Vitus Bering expedition of 1741) that the territorial ambitions of Tsarist Russia towards North America became known, however, that the King felt such installations were necessary in Upper ("Alta") California. Between 1774 and 1791, the Crown sent forth a number of expeditions to explore the Pacific Northwest, but, by 1819, chose to limit its "reach" to Northern California due to the costs involved in sustaining such remote outposts.

The Spanish occupation of California brought with it serious, though perhaps unintended, negative consequences to the Native American populations the missionaries came in contact with. It is estimated the "pre-colonization" native population in Alta California (which numbered around 300,000) had dwindled to approximately 100,000, by the early 1840s, due in large part to the natives' exposure to European diseases for which they lacked immunity and from the Franciscan practice of cloistering women in the convento and controlling sexuality during the child-bearing age; Baja California experienced a similar reduction in native population resulting from Spanish colonization efforts there. In recent years, much debate has arisen as to the actual treatment of the Indians during the "Mission Era," and many claim that the California Mission system is directly responsible for the decline of the native cultures. Evidence has now been brought to light that puts the Indians' experiences in a very different context.

The Mexican Congress passed An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California on August 17, 1833. Mission San Juan Capistrano was the very first to feel the effects of this legislation the following year. The Franciscans soon thereafter abandoned the missions, taking with them most everything of value, after which the locals typically plundered the mission buildings for construction materials.

By confiscation of the missions (1834–38), marking the end of the Mission Era, Indians lost protection from the mission system, along with their stock and other movable property, and, by the transfer of California to the United States, they were left without legal title to their land. As the result of a government investigation, in 1873, a number of Indian reservations were assigned by executive proclamation in 1875. According to one estimate, the original populations of the missions were approximately 80,000 at the time of the confiscation.

Datei:Mission San Juan Capistrano 4-5-05 100 6588.JPG
A view of Mission San Juan Capistrano in April of 2005. At left is the façade of the first adobe church with its added espadaña; behind the campanario, or "bell wall" is the "Sacred Garden." The Mission has earned a reputation as the "Loveliest of the Franciscan Ruins."

The missions

Site selection and layout

In addition to the presidio (royal fort) and pueblo (town), the misión was one of the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial territories. Since 1493, the Kingdom of Spain had maintained a number of missions throughout Nueva España (New Spain, consisting of Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States) in order to facilitate colonization of these lands. In this context, the term "California" is used to refer to the territory that comprises Alta California (chiefly the current U.S. state of California) and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. It was not until the threat of invasion by Tsarist Russia, in 1765, however, that the King felt such installations were necessary in Upper ("Alta") California. Between 1774 and 1791, the Crown sent forth a number of expeditions to explore the Pacific Northwest, but, by 1819, chose to limit its "reach" to Northern California due to the costs involved in sustaining such remote outposts.

Each frontier station was forced to be self-supporting, as existing means of supply were inadequate to maintain a colony of any size. California was literally months away from the nearest base in colonized Mexico, and the cargo ships of the day were too small to carry more than a few months’ rations in their holds. In order to sustain a mission, the padres required the help of colonists or converted Native Americans, called neophytes, to cultivate crops and tend livestock in the volume needed to support a fair-sized establishment. The scarcity of imported materials, together with a lack of skilled laborers, compelled the Fathers to employ simple building materials and methods in the construction of mission structures.

 
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, circa 1910. This mission is architecturally distinctive because of the strong Moorish lines exhibited.

Although the missions were considered temporary ventures by the Spanish hierarchy, the development of an individual settlement was not simply a matter of "priestly whim." The founding of a mission followed longstanding rules and procedures; the paperwork involved required months, sometimes years of correspondence, and demanded the attention of virtually every level of the bureaucracy. Once empowered to erect a mission in a given area, the men assigned to it chose a specific site that featured a good water supply, plenty of wood for fires and building material, and ample fields for grazing herds and raising crops. The padres blessed the site, and with the aid of their military escort fashioned temporary shelters out of tree limbs or driven stakes, roofed with thatch or reeds (cañas). It was these simple huts that would ultimately give way to the stone and adobe buildings which exist to this day.

The first priority when beginning a settlement was the location and construction of the church (iglesia). The majority of mission sanctuaries were oriented on a roughly east-west axis to take the best advantage of the sun's position for interior illumination; the exact alignment depended on the geographic features of the particular site. Once the spot for the church was selected, its position would be marked and the remainder of the mission complex would be laid out. The workshops, kitchens, living quarters, storerooms, and other ancillary chambers were usually grouped in the form of a quadrangle, inside which religious celebrations and other festive events often took place. The cuadrángulo was rarely a perfect square because the Fathers had no surveying instruments at their disposal and simply measured off all dimensions by foot.

Missions in present–day Alta California (U.S.)

Datei:Mission San Juan Bautista.JPG
A view of the restored Mission San Juan Bautista and its three-bell campanario ("bell wall") in 2004.

The 21 northern missions were established along California's El Camino Real (Spanish for The King's Highway, christened in honor of King Charles III), much of which is now U.S. Route 101. The mission planning was begun, in 1767, under the leadership of Fray Junípero Serra, O.F.M. (who, in 1767, along with his fellow priests, had taken control over a group of missions in Baja California previously administered by the Jesuits).

In September 1821, Father Mariano Payeras, "Comisario Prefecto" of the California Missions, visited Cañada de Santa Ysabel as part of a plan to establish an entire chain of inland missions, with the Santa Ysabel Asistencia as the "mother" mission. The plan never came to fruition, however. Work on the mission chain was concluded in 1823, even though Serra had died in 1784. Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén took up Serra's work and established nine more mission sites, from 1786 through 1798; others established the last three compounds, along with at least six asistencia, or "sub-missions".

The missions are collectively the best-known historic element of the coastal regions of California. Seven of the twenty-one missions are designated National Historic Landmarks, fourteen are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and all are designated as California Historical Landmarks for their historic, architectural, and archaeological significance. The popularity of the California Missions stems largely from Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona and the subsequent efforts of Charles Fletcher Lummis, William Randolph Hearst, and other members of the Landmarks Club of Los Angeles to restore the missions in the early 20th century. The missions have a prominent place in California's historic consciousness, and a steady stream of tourists from all over the world visit them.

Today, the California Missions exist in varying degrees of architectural integrity and structural soundness. The most common extant features at the mission grounds include the church building and an ancillary convento (convent) wing. In some cases (in San Rafael, Santa Cruz, and Soledad, for example), the current buildings are replicas constructed on or near the original site. Other mission compounds remain relatively intact and true to their original, Mission Era construction. A notable example of an intact complex is the now-threatened Mission San Miguel Arcángel: its chapel retains the original interior murals created by Salinan Indians under the direction of Esteban Munras, a Spanish artist. This structure was closed to the public, in 2003, due to severe damage from the San Simeon Earthquake.

Many missions have preserved (or in some cases reconstructed) historic features in addition to chapel buildings. Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside has a well-preserved lavanderia (washing area) with Indian-made gargoyles for water spouts and clear depressions where native women washed clothes on the bricks. Mission San Antonio de Padua near Jolon has more than 100 acres (0.4 km²) of archaeological and built features, including sawpits, reservoirs, and the foundations of the soldiers' barracks, a threshing room, and married Indian convert housing.

Military Districts

Four presidios, strategically placed along the California coast, served to protect the missions and other Spanish settlements in Upper California. Each of these posts functioned as a base of military operations for a specific region, organized as follows:

El Presidio Real de Sonoma, or Sonoma Barracks, was established in 1836 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (the "Commanclate-General of the Northern Frontier of Alta California") as a part of Mexico's strategy to halt Russian incursions into the region.

The missions themselves were situated approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) apart, so that they were separated by one day's long ride on horseback or by boat along the 600-mile (966-kilometer) long El Camino Real (Spanish for "The Royal Highway," though often referred to as "The King's Highway"), and also known as the California Mission Trail. Tradition has it that the padres sprinkled mustard seeds along the trail in order to mark it with bright yellow flowers.

In geographical order, north to south

Datei:1920 Alta California mission trail.jpg
An early map illustrating the route of "El Camino Real" in 1821, along with the 21 Franciscan missions in Alta California. The road at this time was merely a horse and mule trail.

In chronological order

Franciscan Establishments (1769–1823)

Missions in present–day Baja California (Mexico)

 
Misión Santa Rosalía de Mulegé in Baja California Sur.

Fortún Jiménez de Bertadoña discovered the Baja California Peninsula in early 1534. However, it was Hernán Cortés who recognized the peninsula as the "Island of California" in May 1535, and is therefore officially credited with the discovery. In January 1683, the Spanish government chartered an expedition consisting of three ships to transport a contingent of 200 men to the southern tip of Baja California. Under the command of the governor of Sinaloa, Isidoro de Atondo y Antillon, and accompanied by Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino, the ships made landfall in La Paz. The landing party was eventually forced to abandon its initial settlement at San Bruno due to the hostile response on the part of the natives.

In 1695, the missionaries attempted to establish a settlement near Loreto but again failed. Father Kino and Atondo y Antillon returned to the Mexican mainland, where Kino went on to establish several missions in the northwest. A Jesuit priest named Juan María de Salvatierra eventually managed to establish the first permanent Spanish settlement, the Misión Nuestra Senora de Loreto Conchó. Founded, on October 19, 1697, the Mission went on to become the religious and administrative capital of Baja California. From there, other Jesuits went out to establish other settlements throughout the peninsula, founding a total of 18 missions and two visitas ("visiting stations" or "country chapels") along the initial segment of El Camino Real over the next seven decades.

Unlike the mainland settlements that were designed to be self-sustaining enterprises, the remote and harsh conditions on the peninsula made it all but impossible to build and maintain these missions without ongoing assistance from the mainland. Supply lines from across the Sea of Cortez in the Port of Guaymas played a crucial role in keeping the Baja mission system intact. Along with religion, the Europeans brought with them diseases that the indigenous peoples had never been exposed to, and consequently had no immunity against. By 1767, epidemics of measles, plague, smallpox, typhus, and venereal diseases had decimated the native population. Out of an initial population of as many as 50,000, only some 5,000 are thought to have survived.

It was rumored that the Jesuit priests had amassed a fortune on the peninsula and were becoming very powerful. On February 3, 1768, King Carlos III ordered the Jesuits forcibly expelled from "New Spain" and returned to the home country. The Franciscans, under the leadership of Fray Junípero Serra, took charge of the missions and closed or consolidated several of the existing installations. The order also founded Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá (the only Franciscan mission in all of Baja California) and the nearby Visita de la Presentación in 1769. Then, along with Governor Gaspar de Portolà, Serra was ordered by the Spanish government to travel north and establish a series of mission sites in Alta (Upper) California.

Representatives of the Dominican order arrived in 1772, and by 1800, had established 9 more missions in northern Baja, all the while continuing with the administration of the former the Jesuit missions. The peninsula was divided into two separate entities in 1804, with the southern one having the seat of government established in the Port of Loreto. In 1810, Mexico sought to end Spanish colonial rule, gaining her independence in 1821, after which Mexican President Guadalupe Victoria named Lt. Col. José María Echeandía governor of Baja California Sur and divided it in four separate municipios (municipalities). The capital was moved to La Paz, in 1830, after Loreto was partially destroyed by heavy rains. In 1833, after Baja was designated as a federal territory, the governor formally put an end to the mission system by converting the missions into parish churches.

In geographical order, north to south

Datei:1920 Baja California mission trail.jpg
An early map traces the mission trail in Baja California in 1769.
Baja California (Norte)
Baja California Sur

In chronological order

Jesuit Establishments (1683–1767)
Franciscan Establishments (1768–1773)
Dominican Establishments (1774–1834)

Controversy

There is controversy over the California Department of Education's treatment of the missions in the Department's elementary curriculum. A number of parents have complained about the so-called "mission projects" many children are assigned in the fourth grade; in the tradition of historical revisionism, it has been alleged that the curriculum "waters down" the harsh treatment of Native Americans. For instance, the role of historical figures, such as Father Serra, can be interpreted as either cultural imperialism or as a noble cause, depending upon the context given.

References

  • Baer, K.: Architecture of the California Missions. University of California Press, Los Angeles, CA, 1958.
  • Carillo, Fr. J. M.: The Story of Mission San Antonio de Padua. Paisano Press, Inc., Balboa Island, CA, 1967.
  • Camphouse, M.: Guidebook to the Missions of California. Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, Los Angeles, CA, 1974, ISBN 0-378-03792-7.
  • Crump, S.: California's Spanish Missions: Their Yesterdays and Todays. Trans-Anglo Books, Del Mar, CA, 1975, ISBN 0-87046-028-5.
  • Drager, K., and Fracchia, C.: The Golden Dream: California from Gold Rush to Statehood. Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, Portland, OR, 1997, ISBN 1-55868-312-7.
  • Geiger, M., O.F.M.: Franciscan Missionaries in Hispanic California, 1769-1848: A Biographical Dictionary. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 1969.
  • Johnson, P., ed.: The California Missions. Lane Book Company, Menlo Park, CA, 1964.
  • Leffingwell, Randy: California Missions and Presidios: The History & Beauty of the Spanish Missions. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN, 2005, ISBN 0-89658-492-5.
  • Moorhead, Max L.: The Presidio: Bastion Of The Spanish Borderlands. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1991, ISBN 0-8061-2317-6.
  • Rawls, J. and Bean, W.: California: An Interpretive History. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1997, ISBN 0-07-052411-4.
  • Robinson, W.: Panorama: A Picture History of Southern California. Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, Los Angeles, CA, 1953.
  • Wright, R.: California's Missions. Hubert A. and Martha H. Lowman, Arroyo Grande, CA, 1950.
  • Young, S., and Levick, M.: The Missions of California. Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, CA, 1988, ISBN 0-8118-1938-8.

See also

Commons: California missions – Album mit Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

Vorlage:Missions-by-country

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