Father Kino
From around 1520, the Spain had maintained a number of missions throughout Virreinato de Nueva España (the Viceroyalty of New Spain) consisting of Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States, in order to establish colonization and control of the territory and resources.
In the Spring of 1687, a Jesuit missionary named Father Eusebio Francisco Kino lived and worked with the Native Americans (including the Sobaipuri) in the area called the "Pimería Alta," or "Upper Pima Country," which presently is located in northern Sonora and southern Arizona. During Father Eusebio Kino's stay in the Pimería Alta, he founded over twenty missions in eight mission districts.
It was rumored that the Jesuit priests had amassed fortunes 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. Despite the order, many Jesuits remained in and around the present day Tucson, Arizona as late as the 1780s.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Missions In The Sonoran Desert
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