Alta California - Spanish Colonization

Spanish Colonization

The Spanish explored the coastal area of Alta California in the 16th century and considered the area as the domain of the Spanish monarchy, and made various plans to settle the area, including Sebastián Vizcaíno's expedition in 1602–03 preparatory to colonization planned for 1606–07 which was cancelled in 1608, plans promoted by Father Eusebio Kino who missionized the Pimería Alta from 1687 until his death in 1711, by Juan Manuel de Oliván Rebolledo in 1715 resulting in a decree in 1716 for extension of the conquest (of Baja California) which came to nothing, Juan Bautista de Anza I proposing an expedition from Sonora in 1737, a plan by the Council of the Indies in 1744, and Don Fernando Sánchez Salvador, who 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." Spanish interest in colonizing Alta California was galvanized by news of Russian colonization and maritime fur trading in Alaska. The 1768 naval expedition of Pyotr Krenitsyn and Mikhail Levashev in particular alarmed the Spanish government. To ascertain the Russian threat a number of Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest were launched. In preparation for settlement of Alta California, the northern, mainland region of Las Californias was granted to Franciscan missionaries to convert the Native population to Catholicism, following a model that had been used for over a century in Baja California. The Spanish Crown funded the construction and subsidized the operation of the missions, with the goal that the relocation, conversion and enforced labor of Native people would enforce Spanish rule. The first mission was established in San Diego in 1769. In 1773 a boundary between the Baja California missions, controlled by the Dominicans, and those of Alta California was set by Francisco Palóu. The missionary effort was followed by the construction of presidios and pueblos, which were to be manned and populated by Hispanic people. The first pueblo founded was San José in 1777, followed by Los Ángeles in 1781 and the Villa de Branciforte in 1797.