| Alta California | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of theViceroyalty of New Spain (1804–1821) Province of theMexican Empire (1821–1824) Federal territory ofMexico (1824–1836) | |||||||||
| 1804–1836 | |||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||
| Capital | Monterey(1804–1836) | ||||||||
| Demonym | Californio | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1804–1814 | José Joaquín de Arrillaga (first Spanish governor) | ||||||||
• 1815–1822 | Pablo Vicente de Solá (last Spanish governor) | ||||||||
• 1822–1825 | Luis Antonio Argüello (first Mexican governor) | ||||||||
• 1836 | Nicolás Gutiérrez (last Alta Californian governor) | ||||||||
| Legislature | Diputación de Alta California | ||||||||
| Historical era | Spanish colonial era | ||||||||
| 1769 | |||||||||
• Established | 1804 | ||||||||
| August 24, 1821 | |||||||||
• Disestablished | 1836 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
Alta California (English:Upper California), also known asNueva California (English:New California) among other names,[a] was a province ofNew Spain formally established in 1804. Along with theBaja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province ofLas Californias, but was made a separate province in 1804 (namedNueva California).[1] Following theMexican War of Independence, it became a territory ofMexico in April 1822[2] and was renamedAlta California in 1824.
The territory included all of the present-day U.S. states ofCalifornia,Nevada, andUtah, and parts ofArizona,Wyoming, andColorado. The territory wasre-combined withBaja California (as a singledepartamento) in Mexico's 1836Siete Leyes (Seven Laws) constitutional reform, granting it more autonomy.[3][4] That change was undone in 1846, but rendered moot by the outcome of theMexican–American War in 1848, when most of the areas formerly comprising Alta Californiawere ceded to the U.S. inthe treaty which ended the war. In 1850, California joined the union as the31st state.
TheEl Camino Real trail established by the Spanish extended fromMexico City west toSanta Fe, and California, as well as east toFlorida. To the southeast, beyond the deserts and theColorado River, lay theSpanish settlements in Arizona.[b][c] Spanish soldiers, settlers, and missionaries invaded the homelands of theindigenous peoples of California,people of the Great Basin, and thePueblo peoples in the establishment of Alta California.[7]
Evidence of Alta California remains in the numerous Spanish place names of American cities such asMonterey,Las Vegas,Los Angeles,Sacramento,San Bernardino,San Diego,San Francisco,San Jose,Santa Ana, andSanta Rosa.
FatherEusebio Kino missionized thePimería Alta from 1687 until his death in 1711. In 1697, aJesuit expansion into California was funded and theMisión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó was established that same year.[8][9] Plans in 1715 by Juan Manuel de Oliván Rebolledo resulted in a 1716 decree for extension of the conquest (of Baja California) which came to nothing.Juan Bautista de Anssa proposed an expedition fromSonora in 1737 and theCouncil of the Indies planned settlements in 1744, although these plans did not take action.[10]
Don Fernando Sánchez Salvador researched the earlier proposals and suggested the area of theGila andColorado Rivers as the locale for forts or presidios preventing the French or the English from "occupyingMonterey and invading the neighboring coasts of California which are at the mouth of theCarmel River."[11][12] Alta California was not easily accessible from New Spain: land routes were cut off by deserts and Indigenous peoples who were hostile to invasion. Sea routes ran counter to the southerly currents of the distant northwestern Pacific. Ultimately, New Spain did not have the economic resources nor population to settle such a far northern outpost.[10]
Spanish interest in colonizing Alta California was revived under thevisita ofJosé de Gálvez as part of his plans to completely reorganize the governance of theInterior Provinces and push Spanish settlement further north.[13] In subsequent decades, news ofRussian colonization andmaritime fur trading in Alaska, and the 1768 naval expedition ofPyotr Krenitsyn andMikhail Levashov alarmed the Spanish government and served to justify Gálvez's vision.[14]
ThePortolá expedition was the first European land-entry expedition into the area that is now California. The missionaries and soldiers encountered numerousIndigenous peoples of the area, who became the primary subjects of the expandingJesuit andFranciscan missions that were already established inBaja California andBaja California Sur.[3][15] The expedition first established thePresidio of San Diego at the site of theKumeyaay village ofKosa'aay, which became the first European settlement in the present state of California. At first contact, the villagers provided food and water for the expedition, who were suffering fromscurvy andwater deprivation.[16]
The first Alta California mission was founded that same year adjacent to the villageMission San Diego de Alcalá, founded by theFranciscan friarJunípero Serra andGaspar de Portolá inSan Diego in 1769.[17] Similar to the site of this mission, subsequent missions and presidios were often founded at the site of Indigenous villages.Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was founded at theTongva villageToviscanga[18] and thePueblo de Los Ángeles at the village ofYaanga.[19] The first settlers of Los Angeles were African andmulatto Catholics, including at least ten of the recently re-discoveredLos Pobladores.[20]Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded at theAcjachemen village ofAcjacheme.[21]Mission San Fernando was founded atAchooykomenga.[22]
As the Spanish and civilian settlers further intruded into Indigenous lands and imposed their practices, ideas of property, and religion onto them backed by the force of soldiers and settlers, Indigenous peoples formed rebellions on Spanish missions and settlements.[23] A major rebellion at Mission San Gabriel in 1785 was led by themedicine womanToypurina.[24] Runaways from the missions were common, where abuse, malnourishment, and overworking were common features of daily life.[25] Runaways would sometimes find shelter at more distant villages, such as a group of runaways who found refuge at theVanyume village ofWá'peat, the chief of which refused to give them up.[26][27] Many children died young at the missions. One missionary reported that 3 of every 4 children born at Mission San Gabriel died before reaching the age of two.[28]
The precolonial Indigenous population of California is estimated to have numbered around 340,000 people, who were diverse culturally and linguistically.[29] From 1769 to 1832, at least 87,787 baptisms and 63,789 deaths ofIndigenous peoples occurred, demonstratingthe immense death rate at the missions in Alta California.[30]Conversion to Christianity at the colonial missions was often resisted by Indigenous peoples in Alta California.[31] Many missionaries in the province wrote of their frustrations with teaching Indigenous people to internalize Catholic scripture and practice. Many Indigenous people learned to navigate religious expectations at the missions with complex social behaviors in order to maintain their cultural and religious practices.[31]
In 1784, the Spanish established the first rancho,Rancho San Pedro, as a 48,000-acre site forcattle grazing. Nine ranchos were subsequently established before 1800.[32] Spanish, and later Mexican, governments rewarded retiredsoldados de cuera with large land grants, known asranchos, for the raising ofcattle andsheep. Hides andtallow from the livestock were the primary exports of California until the mid-19th century. Similar to the missions, the construction, ranching and domestic work on these vast estates was primarily done byIndigenous peoples, who learned to speak Spanish and ride horses. Under Spanish and Mexican rule, the ranchos prospered and grew.Rancheros (cattle ranchers) andpobladores (townspeople) evolved into the uniqueCalifornio culture.
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By law, mission land and property were to pass to the Indigenous population after a period of about ten years, when the Indigenous people would become Spanish subjects. In the interim period, the Franciscans were to act as mission administrators who held the land in trust for the Indigenous residents. The Franciscans, however, prolonged their control over the missions even after control of Alta California passed from Spain to independent Mexico, and continued to run the missions until they were secularized, beginning in 1833. The transfer of property never occurred under the Franciscans.[33][34]
As the number of Spanish settlers grew in Alta California, the boundaries and natural resources of the mission properties became disputed. Conflicts between the Crown and the Church arose over land. State and ecclesiastical bureaucrats debated over authority of the missions.[35] The Franciscan priests ofMission Santa Clara de Asís sent a petition to the governor in 1782 which stated that theMission Indians owned both the land and cattle and represented theOhlone against the Spanish settlers in nearby San José.[36] The priests reported that Indians' crops were being damaged by the pueblo settlers' livestock and that the settlers' livestock was also "getting mixed up with the livestock belonging to the Indians from the mission" causing losses. They advocated that the Indigenous people be allowed to own property and have the right to defend it.[37]
In 1804, due to the growth of the Spanish population in new northern settlements, the province of Las Californias was divided just south of San Diego, following mission president Francisco Palóu's division between the Dominican and Franciscan jurisdictions. GovernorDiego de Borica is credited with defining the border between Alta (upper) andBaja (lower) California's asPalóu's division, while the division became the political reality underJosé Joaquín de Arrillaga, who would become the first governor of Alta California.[38][39]
Thecortes (legislature) ofNew Spain issued a decree in 1813 for at least partial secularization that affected all missions in America and was to apply to all outposts that had operated for ten years or more; however, the decree was never enforced in California.
TheAdams–Onís Treaty of 1819, between the United States and Spain, established the northern limit of Alta California at latitude 42°N, which remains the boundary between the states of California, Nevada and Utah (to the south) and Oregon and Idaho (to the north) to this day. Mexico won independence in 1821, and Alta California became a territory of Mexico the next year.
Mexico gained independence from Spain on August 24, 1821, upon conclusion of the decade-longMexican War of Independence. As thesuccessor state to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Mexico automatically included the provinces of Alta California and Baja California as territories. Alta California declared allegiance to the new Mexican nation and elected a representative to be sent to Mexico City. On November 9, 1822, the first legislature of California was created, theDiputación de Alta California.[2] With the establishment of arepublican government in 1824, Alta California, like many northern territories, was not recognized as one of the constituentStates of Mexico because of its small population. The1824 Constitution of Mexico refers to Alta California as a "territory".
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Resentment was increasing toward appointed territorial governors sent from Mexico City, who came with little knowledge of local conditions and concerns.[citation needed] Laws were imposed by the central government without much consideration of local conditions, such as theMexican secularization act of 1833,[15] causing friction between governors and the people.
In 1836, Mexico repealed the 1824 federalist constitution and adopted a more centralist political organization (under the "Seven Laws") that reunited Alta and Baja California in a single California Department (Departamento de las Californias).[40] The change, however, had little practical effect in far-off Alta California. The capital of Alta California remained Monterey, as it had been since the 1769Portola expedition first established a military/civil government, and the local political structures were unchanged.
The friction came to a head in 1836, when Monterey-bornJuan Bautista Alvarado led a revolt against the 1836 constitution, seizing control of Monterey fromNicolás Gutiérrez. Alvarado's actions nearly led to a civil war with loyalist forces based in Los Angeles, but a ceasefire was arranged. After an unsettled period, Alvarado agreed to support the 1839 constitution, and Mexico City appointed him to serve as governor from 1837 to 1842. OtherCalifornio governors followed, includingCarlos Antonio Carrillo, andPío Pico. The last non-Californian governor,Manuel Micheltorena, was driven out after another rebellion in 1845. Micheltorena was replaced by Pío Pico, lastMexican governor of California, who served until 1846 when the U.S. military occupation began.
| Date | Timeline of events through 1841 |
| 1816 | Thomas W. Doak from Boston became the first Anglo-American to settle in Spanish California after arriving in Monterey Bay aboard his ship, theAlbatross. He was baptized at San Carlos Mission in 1816 as Felipe Santiago and was employed at San Juan Bautista Mission in 1818.[41] |
| 09 Apr 1822 | At the Governor's Hall in Monterey, aCalifornio Committee voted in favor of joining the newly independentFirst Mexican Empire ruled byEmperor Iturbide in Mexico City.[42] |
| 1823 | British-AmericanJohn Rogers Cooper settled in Mexican California, arriving in Monterey Bay aboard his ship, theRover. He was the half-brother ofThomas O. Larkin.[43] |
| 04 Oct 1824 | Mexico dissolved its monarchy and formed theFirst Mexican Republic. The new 1824 Mexican Constitution splitLas Californias into two provinces, Alta and Baja California, at thePalóu Line. |
| 27 Nov 1826 | American fur trapperJedediah Smith arrived atSan Gabriel Mission. Smith's party became the first Anglo-Americans to travel into California via a land trail from the U.S. He was detained and jailed in San Diego byGovernor Echeandía for illegal entry into Alta California. Echeandía ordered him to leave the same way he came to California. Smith, however, traveled into theCalifornia Central Valley looking for the fabledBuenaventura River. Smith eventually left throughEbbetts Pass in spring 1827, becoming the first non-native to cross theSierra Nevada mountain range. |
| 19 Sep 1827 | Jedediah Smith, leading a second California expedition, arrived atMission San José. He rendezvoused with his men after a Native American attack in the Mojave Desert. He was again arrested by Governor Echeandía for illegal entry and again released, after several English-speaking California residents vouched for him. Smith was ordered to leave and never return to California.[44] Smith remained in California for months exploring the northernSacramento Valley and left California intoOregon Country. |
| 12 Jan 1828 | The 1828 Treaty of Limits was concluded at Mexico City. The treaty recognized the Mexico–U.S. boundary that had been established by the1819 Adams–Onís Treaty between Spain and the U.S. |
| 1829 | Abel Stearns, an American trader, settled in the Pueblo de Los Angeles in 1829 and became a major landowner and cattle rancher and one of the area's wealthiest citizens. |
| 31 Jan 1830 | Antonio Armijo arrived at San Gabriel Mission, establishing a land route between the Mexican provinces of New Mexico and Alta California. His route, the southernmost and most direct, was known as theArmijo Route of theOld Spanish Trail. |
| 11 July 1830 | American fur trapperEwing Young, who had followed Jedediah Smith's trail, arrived atMission San José after a Mexican official who encountered him trapping in the Central Valley summoned him there. Young sold his fur pelts in San Francisco and Los Angeles, later returning to Taos, New Mexico, after his fur trading made him one of the wealthiest Americans in Mexican territory.[45][46] |
| early 1831 | William Wolfskill, with a party of mountain men that includedGeorge C. Yount, arrived in Southern California using Jedediah Smith's trail across the Mojave Desert, having left Taos, New Mexico, in September 1830. Later, after time spent huntingsea otters on the coast, Wolfskill returned to Southern California, while Yount decided to go north, and the two parted company. Yount settled in theNapa Valley. |
| Apr 1832 | Thomas O. Larkin settled in Alta California. His elder half-brother, pioneer businessmanJohn Rogers Cooper, had invited Larkin to join him, propelling Larkin to success and wealth. Larkin served as the onlyU.S. consul to Alta California during the Mexican era and was covertly involved in U.S. plans to annex California from Mexico.[47] |
| 1833 | Bent's Fort was built on the Mexico-U.S. border adjacent to theArkansas River. The fort was the only major Anglo-American permanent settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements. It was destroyed in 1849. |
| Fall 1833 | Benjamin Bonneville led a U.S. expedition to the Great Salt Lake area. He dispatchedJoseph R. Walker to lead an auxiliary expedition into California, where he reachedHalf Moon Bay on November 20. Walker discovered a route along theHumboldt River across present-dayNevada, as well asWalker Pass across theSierra Nevada. The path later became known as theCalifornia Trail, the primary route for immigrants into California. |
| 14 Feb 1834 | Joseph Walker party left California after camping for the winter under the authorization of California GovernorJosé Figueroa. The Walker party rendezvoused with Bonneville in Utah, reaching him on July 12. |
| 13 Apr 1834 | Thomas O. Larkin's son, Thomas Oliver, Jr., was born in Monterey, the first child of U.S. parents born in California.[48] The mother of the child, Rachel Hobson Holmes, was the first American woman to live in California.[49] |
| 06 Aug 1835 | U.S. PresidentAndrew Jackson sentAnthony Butler to Mexico City to negotiate the purchase of the Mexican provinces ofTexas,New Mexico, and Alta California,[50] which the Mexican government refused. Jackson attempted to buy California two more times. |
| 15 Dec 1835 | GeneralAntonio López de Santa Anna took power in acoup and turnedMexico into aunitary state. Alta California andBaja California territories were merged as theDepartment of Las Californias as part of the reforms made underLas Siete Leyes, formalized under Santa Anna. |
| 03 Nov 1836 | California interim GovernorNicolás Gutiérrez, who had been sent directly from the centralist Mexican government, was ousted by local Californians after onecannon was fired. CalifornioJuan Bautista Alvarado was installed in his place by local Californians. |
| 07 Nov 1836 | Led byJuan Bautista Alvarado, a Californio independence movement against Centralist Mexico declared the independence of Alta California. Alvarado stated that Alta California was free and would sever her relations with Mexico until she ceased to be oppressed. A negotiated settlement led to Mexico's California territory becoming two departments, thus giving more autonomy to Californios. Mexico mandated that Alvarado remain governor of Alta California. |
| 17 Jan 1837 | Mexican PresidentAntonio López de Santa Anna arrived in Washington D.C., after his liberation by Texian General Sam Houston, to request the mediation of the United States between Texas and Mexico. In expectation of his request, or after it was made, Jackson had drawn up the general terms upon which the U.S. government would assume the undertaking, in exchange for the sale by Mexico to the U.S. of a large amount of Mexican territory.[50] |
| Aug 1839 | John Sutter began buildingSutter's Fort on the bank of the American River near Sacramento. In the 1840s, Sutter's Fort became the largest concentration of Anglo-Americans in Mexican California. |
| 1839 | Governor Alvarado decreed that all foreigners who did not become Mexican citizens would be expelled from Alta California. |
| 07 Apr 1840 | GeneralJose Castro arrestedIsaac Graham and 60 conspirators in a plot known as the Graham Affair. 47 were found guilty. U.S. sloop of war (USSSt. Louis) was sent to defuse the situation between American settlers and Mexican Californios. The ship arrived in Monterey Bay on June 30, being the first American military ship to set anchor in California. U.S. marines landed on California soil, leading Castro to release prisoners. The sloop left California on July 5.[51] |
| 1840 | Richard Henry Dana, Jr. publishedTwo Years Before the Mast, in which he described his sailing journey in Mexican California during 1834–1836. His book was the first to raise Anglo-American awareness of California for Americans on the east coast. |
| May 1841 | General Juan Almonte, Mexican minister of war, wrote toMariano Guadalupe Vallejo, comandante general of California, concerning the reported emigration of 58 families from Missouri and gave strict orders that every foreigner should be compelled to show a passport or leave the country. In the dispatch, Almonte enclosed a clipping from theNational Intelligencer regarding "the convenience and necessity of the acquisition of the Californias by the United States". Almonte further warned Vallejo to put little trust in the alleged claim by the Americans that they were coming with peaceful intentions. Despite this command from Mexico City, the Californians showed little desire to molest the settlers from the United States.[52] |
| Jul 1841 | AmericanPeter Lassen was arrested at Bodega Bay, California, for illegally entering California.[53] |
| Sep 1841 | TheUnited States Exploring Expedition, on its world voyage under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, reached San Francisco Bay, with instructions from the U.S. government to survey the harbor.[52] |
| 04 Nov 1841 | Bartleson–Bidwell Party, led by Captain John Bartleson and John Bidwell, arrived atJohn Marsh's ranch, becoming the first American emigrants to attempt a wagon crossing from Missouri to California. |
In the final decades of Mexican rule, American and European immigrants arrived and settled in the former Alta California. Those inSouthern California mainly settled in and around the established coastal settlements and tended to intermarry with the Californios. In Northern California, they mainly formed new settlements further inland, especially in theSacramento Valley, and these immigrants focused on fur-trapping and farming and kept apart from the Californios.
In 1846, following reports of the annexation ofTexas to the United States, American settlers in inland Northern California took up arms, captured the Mexican garrison town of Sonoma, and declared independence there as theCalifornia Republic. At the same time, the United States and Mexico had gone to war, and forces of theUnited States Navy entered into Alta California and took possession of the northern port cities of Monterey and San Francisco. The forces of the California Republic, upon encountering the United States Navy and, from them, learning of the state of war between Mexico and the United States, abandoned their independence and proceeded to assist the United States forces in securing the remainder of Alta California. The California Republic was never recognized by any nation and existed for less than one month, but its flag (the "Bear Flag") survives as the flag of the State of California.
After the United States Navy's seizure of the cities of southern California, the Californios formed irregular units, which were victorious in theSiege of Los Angeles, and after the arrival of theUnited States Army, fought in theBattle of San Pasqual and theBattle of Domínguez Rancho. But the Californios were defeated in subsequent encounters, the battles ofRío San Gabriel andLa Mesa. The southern Californios formally surrendered with the signing of theTreaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. After twenty-seven years as part of independent Mexico, California was ceded to the United States in 1848 with the signing of theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The United States paid Mexico$15 million for thelands ceded.
Three civilian settlements (pueblos) were officially granted municipal status, recognized by the government.
The data in this table includes California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming.[note 1]
| Year | Pop Spaniards/Mexican/Criollo | % pop | Mestizo, Castizo and other castes | % pop | Amerindians | % pop | Total Population | Inhabitants per Sq.League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1769 | + 300 (first foundation in Spanish California)[54] | - | ||||||
| 1779 | 500[55] | - | - | - | ||||
| 1783 | 1,000[55] | - | - | - | ||||
| 1790 (Revillagigedo census)[56] | N/A (by the late 1780s there were 1,137 Spaniards in Alta California[55]) | - | 18,780 | 09,8% (1793)[57] | 2,052–300,000[58] | 89.9% (1793)[57] | 20,871 | 10 |
| 1800 | 1,800[59] | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1810 | 2,000[55] | N/A | N/A | N/A | 250,000 (19,000 of whom were baptised)[55] | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1820 | 3,270[55] | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1838 | 4,000 whites (mostly being of Spanish origin and another 500 being foreigners; Faxon D. Atherton estimations (1982:206)[60]) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A (in 1836, 29,000 people lived in Alta California according toEl Diario Oficial of Mexico City (1836:180)[60] | N/A |
| 1845 | 7,300 (Weber estimations (1982:206),[60] although other sources indicated that in 1846 11,500 Californians were of Spaniard or Mexican descent[61]) | N/A | N/A | N/A | 150,000[58] | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Region | Pop Mexican/Criollo | % pop | Mestizo, Castizo and other castes | % pop | Amerindians | % pop | Total Population | Inhabitants per Sq.League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 3,480 | - | ||||||
| Monterey | 1,853 | - | - | - | ||||
| Santa Barbara | 1,147 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| San Diego | 757 | - | - | - | ||||
| San José | 500 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| Napa | 405 | - | - | - | ||||
| San Luis Obispo | 335 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| San Francisco | 186 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| Total | 8,663 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
without any uniformity of usage, the upper country began to be known asCalifornia Septentrional,California del Norte,Nueva California, orCalifornia Superior. But graduallyAlta California became more common than the others, both in private and official communications, though from the date of the separation of the provinces in 1804,Nueva California became the legal name, as didAlta California after 1824.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)Apart from a tiny minority who gave the clearest evidence of meaningful conversion... Overall, outright rejection and chronic resistance characterized the Indian response. [...] The Franciscans admitted as much, recording repeatedly the difficulty of convincing adult Indians to accept any aspect of Catholicism.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Apart from a tiny minority who gave the clearest evidence of meaningful conversion... Overall, outright rejection and chronic resistance characterized the Indian response. [...] The Franciscans admitted as much, recording repeatedly the difficulty of convincing adult Indians to accept any aspect of Catholicism.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
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