How did native people live at Mission Santa Inés? What was daily life like? What languages did they speak? What foods did they eat? How did they dress?
All articles related to the Spanish Missions in California.
Native American Life at the California Missions: An Overview
How did native people live at the Spanish missions in Alta California? What were their jobs? What did they eat? An in-depth look at Native American life in the California missions.
How to Visit All 21 California Missions with Maggie Espinosa
A conversation with writer Maggie Espinosa, on her quest to visit all 21 California missions, from San Diego to Sonoma.
California Mission Founders: Names, Dates and Bios
People often ask who founded the Spanish missions in California. And while Fr. Junípero Serra and Fr. Fermín Francisco de Lasuén are rightly credited as the main mission founders, several other missionaries were involved in establishing missions in California.
A Trip to San Juan Bautista on the Winter Solstice (Video)
https://youtu.be/P6vj46xdq8Y&rel=0 The winter solstice illuminations are a fascinating and little-known aspect of the California missions. This is the story of my trip to witness this phenomenon.
What Were the Spanish Missions in California?
What were the Spanish missions in California? How did they begin? The Spanish missions in California were communities of indigenous people (Indians) established by Franciscan missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries. The were frontier institutions and part of Spain’s effort to have a presence in California. (Click here for a map of all 21 Spanish missions in […]
Mission San Antonio de Pala: Why You Need to Visit
San Antonio de Pala, founded in 1816 as an asistencia (branch) of San Luis Rey, is a living Native American community and an important destination on your next visit to San Diego.
Mission San Diego in 3D
I am a big fan of old stereo photos. As a child I loved to look at View-Master reels, especially the ones with views of far away places. To look at these places through a 3D viewer gave me the impression that I was actually visiting the places. For a moment I was transported to […]
Mission Leveled by Quake, Tsunami Seen off Central Coast
Tsunamis are a fact of life in seismic California, as mission history reminds us. Dr. Dan Krieger is Professor Emeritus of History at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a leading expert on the California missions. He relates the story of a tsunami that occurred off California’s central coast while Father Luis Gil y Taboada was stationed at […]
California Mission List: Photos, Locations, Founders
Between 1769 and 1823 Spanish missionaries founded 21 missions up and down the coast of Alta California (today’s state of California). These missions were meant to continue the chain of missions extending north from the southern tip of Baja California.
Interactive California Missions Map
This map of the Alta California missions displays the 21 missions that Franciscan missionaries founded between 1769 and 1823. Each mission was established near a Native American settlement in an area that was known to provide water and land suitable for farming and ranching. Each mission was also located within the protective zone of one […]
Who Was Junípero Serra?
Junípero Serra was a Spanish priest who established the a series of missions among the native peoples of what is today California. He is considered by many to be the founding father of California and is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.