California mission clash of cultures

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Part of the Spanish missions in California series
Architecture of the California missions
Mission Revival Style architecture
California mission clash of cultures

The California Missions are a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Franciscans from 1769 to 1823 for the purpose of spreading the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans. The Spanish occupation of California brought with it serious, though perhaps unintended, negative consequences to the Native American populations the missionaries came in contact with.

An early visitor to California sketched these Ohlone dancers at Mission San José with their bodies painted to resemble the patterns in Spanish military uniforms.

1 "A clash of cultures"
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] "A clash of cultures"

Before the padres could abandon their interim missions and begin work on more permanent structures, they had to first attract and convert a sufficiently large number of local Indians, who would comprise the major portion of their work force. The padres offered beads, clothing, blankets, even food to the "heathens" to attract them to the prospects of mission life and convince them to move into the mission compound or a nearby village. Each Indian was expected to contribute a certain number of hours' labor each week towards making adobes or roof tiles, working on construction crews, performing some type of handicraft, or farming. Women wove cloth, prepared meals, washed clothes, and were generally responsible for whatever domestic chores arose at the mission. The Indians also spent much of their days learning the Christian faith, and attended worship services several times a day.

Pablo Tac, who lived at Mission San Luis Rey in the 1820s and 1830s, penned this drawing depicting two young men wearing skirts of twine and feathers with feather decorations on their heads, rattles in their hands, and (perhaps) painted decorations on their bodies.

In recent years, much debate has arisen as to the actual treatment of the Indians during the "Mission Era," and many claim that the California Mission system is directly responsible for the decline of the Native American populations. Traditionally, historians have portrayed mission life as one of contentment and that the Indians were not slaves, but rather enthusiastic converts who (more often than not) took as much pride building the missions as the Spaniards who led them in their efforts. It has been generally held that most Indians enjoyed their new lives, and that many were able to sustain themselves after the fall of the mission system by utilizing the skills they had acquired at the missions. The Indians were purportedly often granted leave to visit their villages and participated in many fiestas and celebrations throughout the year at the urging of their benefactors.

Evidence has now been brought to light that puts the Indians' experiences in a very different context. For instance, women were quartered separately from the men, regardless of marital status. Once an Indian agreed to become part of the mission community, he or she was forbidden to leave it without a padre's permission, and from then on led a fairly regimented life learning "civilized" ways from the Spaniards. Indians were often subjected to corporal punishment and other discipline as determined by the padres. When Spain abandoned California, it essentially left a series of building complexes which had exceeded their useful lifespans and were generally in a state of disrepair. Virtually all of the prime lands were snatched up by Spanish settlers who elected to remain in the New World, and who tended to utilize the Indian peoples as a form of slave labor. And while the native population throughout Alta California was reliably estimated to be in excess of 300,000 prior to the founding of the first Spanish settlement, their numbers had dwindled to somewhere around 100,000 by the early 1840s due in large part to their exposure to European diseases.

Baja California experienced a similar reduction in native population resulting from Spanish colonization efforts there.

[edit] References

Crump, S. (1975). California's Spanish Missions: Their Yesterdays and Todays. Trans-Anglo Books, Del Mar, CA. ISBN 0-87046-028-5.
Geiger, M., O.F.M. (1969). Franciscan Missionaries in Hispanic California, 1769-1848: A Biographical Dictionary. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Johnson, P., ed. (1964). The California Missions. Lane Book Company, Menlo Park, CA.
Meadows, D. (1965). "The First Europeans Contact with the Indians." Pacific Archaeological Society Quarterly 1 (3) 25-29.
Rawls, J. and Bean, W. (1997). California: An Interpretive History. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. ISBN 0-07-052411-4.
Wright, R. (1950). California's Missions. Hubert A. and Martha H. Lowman, Arroyo Grande, CA.