California Missions

The Spanish plan for colonizing California called for the coordination of religious, military, and civil activities. The government of Spain wanted to expand its colonial territories in order to strengthen and enrich the Spanish empire.

The Spanish royalty supported and controlled the activities of the Catholic church in the New World. Religious orders were responsible for establishing missions to convert the native Indians. At the same time, the government built military forts, called presidios, to guard the missions and settlers.

"The conversion of the Indigenous people of the Americas was viewed as crucial for colonization. The missions created by members of the Catholic orders were often located on the outermost borders of the colonies. The missions facilitated the expansion of the Spanish empire through the religious conversion of the indigenous peoples occupying those areas."

Farming communities called pueblos developed around the presidios and missions and helped to sustain the members of the religious and military establishments. All of this new settlement displaced Native Californians from their land.

Presidios had a military purpose and were governed by military officials. Four locations were initially chosen for building. The presidios were spread out across the state, with each presidio responsible for a vast area of land. This strategy was important if Spain was to maintain its claim against other countries that might want to seize California's resources for themselves.

Each presidio consisted of enclosed rectangular space, surrounded by a reinforced wall and the buildings that provided living and working space for soldiers, Catholic missionaries, and other settlers. Each presidio included a well, secured storage, and chapel. Beyond the enclosed quadrangle, each presidio included additional houses, a nearby cannon position to protect against attack, and a farm where animals were raised.

It took from 1769 to 1823 to establish the twenty-one missions of California. Use the control panel at the bottom of the map to play and pause the animation. Zoom in (using "+" in lower right of map) to explore in greater detail. The map also shows the approximate territories for California Indian peoples that inhabited the entire state at the time of Spanish arrival.

You can click on each of the rectangles below to visit other websites where you can find more information and images that will help you understand how the mission system changed California.

 1. San Diego de Alcalá (July 1769)   2. San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo (June 1770)   3. San Antonio de Padua (July 1771)   4. San Gabriel Arcángel (September 1771)   5. San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (September 1772)   6. San Francisco de Asís (October 1776)   7. San Juan Capistrano (November 1776)   8. Santa Clara de Asís (January 1777)   9. San Buenaventura (March 1782)   10. Santa Bárbara (December 1786)   11. La Purísima Concepción (December 1787)   12. Santa Cruz (August 1791)   13. Nuestra Señora de La Soledad (October 1791)   14. San José (June 1797)   15. San Juan Bautista (June 1797)   16. San Miguel Arcángel (July 1797)   17. San Fernando Rey de España (September 1797)   18. San Luis Rey de Francía (June 1798)   19. Santa Inés (September 1804)   20. San Rafael Arcángel (December 1817)   21. San Francisco Solano (July 1823) 

The building of missions was part of the Spanish strategy of colonization and was used in many parts of the Spanish Empire before California. As European empires scrambled to control land and resources in the "New World," the Catholic Church had granted the Spanish King control of its operations in the Americas. Multiple orders of the church became active in building and operating missions in the region. Spain's King Carlos V ordered the building of the first mission in 1533!

Anywhere there were populations of indigenous people, missions were established to convert people to Christianity and involve them in expanding the resources of the empire. Present-day South American countries that had Spanish missions built during the colonial era include Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. In Mexico, the states of Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Queretaro were all home to Spanish missions. The Caribbean island of Trinidad had a mission, too.

Missions were established in many areas that are now part of the present-day United States, including Virginia, Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, and Louisiana. Spanish control of these areas did not last long, and the mission sites are not preserved.

Spain retained control of large portions of the southwestern United States into the 1800s. Missions were built among the Pueblo peoples, the Pima Indian tribe, and other indigenous groups in the present-day territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The National Park Service maintains a website with information and an interactive map so you can learn about these missions.