Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
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The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier lands of its colony of New Spain.
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[edit] Geography
The missions are in an area of the Sonoran Desert called "Pimería Alta," or "Upper Pima Country." It is now divided between the Mexican state of Sonora and the U.S. state of Arizona.
[edit] Father Kino
From 1493, the Kingdom of Spain had maintained a number of missions throughout Nueva España (New Spain, consisting of Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States) in order to facilitate colonization of these lands.
In the Spring of 1687, a Jesuit missionary named Father Eusebio Francisco Kino lived and worked with the Native Americans 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.
[edit] The missions
- Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores: founded on March 13, 1687. This was the first mission founded by Father Kino. By 1744, the mission was abandoned. The cemetery remains on the site of the Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
- Nuestra Señora de los Remedios was founded in 1687 and was abandoned by 1730. Nothing remains of this mission.
- San Ignacio de Cabórica was founded in 1687 and is located in San Ignacio, Sonora.
- San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama was founded in 1687
- Santa Teresa de Atil was founded in 1687
- Santa Maria Magdalena was founded in 1687, located in Sonora.
- San José de Imuris was founded in 1687.
- Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago de Cocóspera was founded in 1689. It is located in Cocóspera, Sonora.
- San Antonio Paduano del Oquitoa was founded in 1689. It is located in Oquitoa, Sonora.
- San Diego del Pitiquito was founded in 1689. It is located in Pitiquito, Sonora.
- San Luis Bacoancos was founded in 1691
- San Cayetano de Tumacácori Mission was built in 1732, but construction stopped in 1822 due to lack of funds. The farming land around the mission was sold at auction in 1834 and the mission was abandoned by 1840. It is now a National Monument in Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
- Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi was founded in 1691
- San Lázaro was founded in 1691
- San Xavier del Bac (O'odham [Papago]: Va:k), now in Tucson, Arizona, founded in 1692, the present building dates from 1785. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments showing a mixture of New Spain and Native American artistic motifs. It is still used by Tohono O'odham and Yaqui tribal members.
- San Cosme y Damián de Tucson: 1692
- Santa María Suamca: 1693
- Nuestra Señora de Loreto y San Marcelo de Sonoyta: 1693
- Nuestra Señora de la Ascención de Opodepe: 1704
- Los Santos Reyes de Sonoita/San Ignacio de Sonoitac: a rancheria near Tumacacori, 1692
[edit] References
- The Pimeria Alta : missions & more, Tucson, Ariz. : Southwestern Mission Research Center, 1996.
- Buford L. Pickens, The Missions of Northern Sonora, A 1935 Field Documentation, Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1993 reprint
[edit] See also
- Jesuit Acsia missions
- Jesuit Reductions
- Reductions
- Spanish colonization of the Americas
[edit] External links
- Kino Missions, US National Park Service
- Arizona Education, Kino Missions
- In the Footsteps of a Bold Priest, New York Times
- Bibliography, Kino Missions
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