The Spanish are coming

As the British fought with their colonies on the East Coast in 1776, the Spanish were working their way up Alta California. For Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, here’s a look at early explorations.

On a mission

In 1774, Spain had established several military and religious outposts in what would become California. The priests and soldiers were very isolated, and sailing around Point Conception in what is now Santa Barbara County was particularly dangerous.

Spanish officer Juan Bautista de Anza wanted to pursue his father’s dream of finding an overland route from mainland Mexico to coastal California.

Sebastián Tarabal, a Native guide, helped Anza identify a desert crossing on an exploratory expedition in 1774. Once a route was established, Spain tasked Anza with leading settlers with their livestock and supplies to Alta California to create a colony at a place they called el río de San Francisco.

In Massachusetts in April 1775, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at Lexington and Concord, while across the continent Anza was busy persuading nearly 300 people to take the overland route with him.They were a culturally diverse mix including 30 families of American Indian, European and Afro-Latino ancestry. The settlers, their military escorts and 1,000 head of livestock traveled about 1,200 miles across rugged wilderness for about 5 1/2 months to forts and missions. It was what some call a wandering town.

On June 27, 1776, the expedition families arrived at what is now San Francisco. The expedition suffered one fatality as one of eight pregnant women on the journey died during childbirth.

The settlers built the beginnings of the Presidio of San Francisco and the Mission San Francisco de Asís. The site of the Presidio of San Francisco is now part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.The Quechan Indians closed the trail in 1781 after an uprising that destroyed two missions.

In 2005, Caltrans began posting signs on roads that overlap the trail route so drivers could follow it.

In 1540, well before the British touched Plymouth Rock in 1620, Yuma’s European history began with the arrival of Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcón.

The first of 24 missions in Baja California was San Jose del Cabo Anuiti, founded in 1730.

In 1776, seven of the eventual 21 Catholic missions (by 1823) in Alta California were founded.

The Sonoma Mission was established July 4, 1823. It was the last of 21 California missions and is one of the few mission-related sites protected and operated as a state park.

To learn a lot more about the expedition the National Park Service has many details here.

You can find the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail Guide and Audio CD Project here.

The Russians are coming

Spain had laid claim to territory in what would become California, Arizona and New Mexico in the 1520s. The Sebastian Vizcaino expedition in 1602 was tasked with finding safe harbors in Alta California for Spanish ships returning from the Philippines.

The Vizcaino expedition along the California coast gave many places the names they have today, including San Diego, Monterey and Santa Barbara. The Spanish did not pay much attention to Alta California until they heard the Russians were building settlements in the Pacific Northwest starting in the 1730s.

Several Spanish exploration missions encountered Russians in Alaska during the mid-1700s. King Charles II of Spain ordered that Spanish settlements be established near the harbors mapped by Vizcaino in San Diego and Monterey. Spanish soldier Gaspar de Portola volunteered to lead the mission.

By 1812, the Russians established Fort Ross in what is now Sonoma County as their southernmost settlement in North America. The fortress flew the Russia flag until 1842.

Fort Ross is a national historic landmark and 6,000-acre state historic park. It’s the only place where the Russian and Spanish empires were adjacent.

Sources: National Park Service, Californiamissionguide.com, anzatrail.org

Photos by the National Park Service, Wikimedia Commons, SCNG and The Associated Press

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