How did the Missions Affect California? Much of the culture of California has its roots in the history of the Spanish missions. And although the missions were only fully active for about 60 years, their presence had a major impact on many areas of life in California. In this article we’ll talk about some of the most important. Spanish Place Names Among the first things that visitors to California notice are Spanish names of cities, towns and other landmarks. Places like San Francisco, San Diego and San Juan Capistrano all take their names from missions and their patron saints. Many other geographic names come places associated with the missions, such…