Roads: Keeping It Real
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Mexican Settlement AND RULE ROADS: KEEPING IT REAL FROM MISSIONS TO PUEBLOS TO CITIES GOT GOAT MILK? IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Mexican_Settlement_Cover2.indd 1 1/30/17 12:08 PM 2 When Spanish missionaries set down roots in Alta California, or Upper California, life as the native people The Daily had known it disappeared. They no longer hunted and gathered food in the same way. They didn’t travel the Grind of routes they had followed for hundreds of years. Even their religion changed. Many “California Indians,” as they came to be called, Mission Life adapted to new ways of life on the missions, making the A CALIFORNIA soldiers from mission was the the nearby center of life for fort, traders miles around. seeking furs, It hosted many and others. visitors: men and These travelers women of wealth saw the people arriving from leading busy Mexico or Spain, lives. TOYS AND GAMES d INDIAN WOMEN gave people a wove cloth, sewed, chance to enjoy a made soap, cooked, bit of their former, and cleaned. They precolonial life. tended gardens. They played hide- Sometimes they and-seek and used made adobe bricks. acorns for games like marbles. Of course, just about everyone liked swimming! SENIORS HELPED u CHILDREN WENT a boys’ or girls’ watch grand- to school and to dormitory. If you children and did church. If you were were a boy, you chores. They told one of these kids, worked in the fields stories of life you lived with your or learned a trade. before the family until you If you were a girl, missionaries were eight. Then, you helped the arrived. They you moved into women. helped keep the native people’s l INDIANS WERE culture and made to build new history alive. missions, houses, and forts along the El Camino Real. This 600-mile-long road connected all of the missions. mexican_settlement_sp1_B.indd 16 1/30/17 12:10 PM r THE NATIVE most of what they had. Others rebelled against the peoples of California newcomers, choosing to fight them or run away. spoke more than Despite its hardships, mission life became familiar. 100 languages. They passed It provided a degree of security. Cattle were raised; down their history, crops were harvested. A stronger economy developed as knowledge, and beliefs by telling traders came to exchange goods for cowhides and tallow. stories, giving Communities grew around the missions as California’s advice, and this one on stone. population increased. recalling events. To communicate They didn’t write; with other groups, they did draw they used sign petroglyphs like language. Catholicism and moved to a mission. The padre was also their boss and their judge. He was often the captor who made them stay. To the Spanish, the padre was the person sent to gather loyal subjects for “New A PADRE, OR PRIEST, Spain,” as they was the religious called the colony. leader and teacher To traders and to “neophytes,” settlers, he was native Californians the area’s business who converted to leader. DOGS AT THE missions herded livestock and protected their homes. Though the Indians had dogs of their own, the mission dogs may have arrived on Spanish ships. u INDIAN MEN adobe and built worked on the houses. Others mission farms learned to work and nearby cattle with wood, leather, ranches. Some or metal. made bricks of mexican_settlement_sp1_B.indd 17 1/30/17 12:10 PM 4 Imagine you lived in a community where you were forced to work. Your leader would not let you leave. People you knew Culture grew sick and died. You were given food and shelter, but you never earned a penny. Your grandparents talked about places you might never visit. Clash How long would it take before you wanted to escape? If you succeeded in leaving, would you try to become like the wealthy traders and Californios (Spanish-speaking people of Alta California) who had visited your mission home? Would you search for your grandparents’ people, and try to live off the land as they had? l THE SPANISH ranches. These needed more first laborers than soldiers and were natives supplies to secure who had chosen California: they mission life – needed settlers a decision most who were loyal would come to Spain. To make to regret. the territory more Eventually, as appealing, the disease killed Spanish put more native their converts Californians, to work. The soldiers forced California Indians most Indians built missions, they could find forts, farms, to convert to villages, and Catholicism. r MOST OF THE Indians who decided to convert had no idea of the life that was in store for them. The missionaries gave them glass beads and brightly colored cloth. They told them that they would be safe and well fed. But once California Indians were baptized, they were forced to abandon their customs and tra- ditions. The men were made to wear shirts and trousers. The women had to wear blouses and skirts. They could be punished for holding traditional ceremonies. mexican_settlement_sp2_B.indd 16 1/30/17 12:11 PM 5 r WHEN THE no longer worth- brought, like barley Russian American while. In Sonoma, and oats, com- Company arrived Americans and peted with native in 1809, seals, Californios hunted grasses. Giant otters, and beavers tule elk. The herds herds of cattle and were plentiful. By shrank and left sheep grazed the the 1820s, trap- the area. Tule elk meadows. Once pers had killed so were not reintro- livestock had eaten many critters for duced to Marin the native plants, their valuable furs County until 1979. non-native plants that business was Plants that settlers took over. l WHEN A MISSION or pueblo (village) grew, the padre would ask Indians to appoint alcaldes (mayors). Alcaldes were often men who had been chiefs or wealthy members of a native people. They managed the Indians and enforced rules. Other Indians in important roles included trans- lators, who were u IF YOU COULD In fact, singing in usually men. play an instrument the boys’ choir Older women well, you might be was one of the few oversaw dormito- picked to play in ways a young ries where girls and the orchestra. If person could hold young women lived you could sing, you an important posi- while single. might join the choir! tion at a mission. r WHAT KILLED SO many California Indians? The Indians caught measles, small- pox, and other diseases from the newcomers. Homes on missions and in pueblos were crowded and dirty. Indians led hard lives. They had been forced to adapt to a life totally unlike the way they had existed for hun- dreds of years. mexican_settlement_sp2_B.indd 17 1/30/17 12:11 PM 6 Presidio soldiers needed food and supplies. The padres forced the natives to Presidios and Pueblos build pueblos, or farming villages, near Converting Indians to Christianity was only the missions, to meet the soldiers’ needs. one reason that the Spanish built missions. The pueblo people were diverse: some Equally important was defending Spain’s had Spanish, Indian, or African ancestors. claim to the territory. The government Promise of profit at the pueblos helped to needed presidios, or forts, staffed with draw more people to Alta California. soldiers to defend the coastline. Soldiers also provided labor. They forced people from the region to join the mission community. A RANCHO WAS A independence r MOST PUEBLO tools, and mon- cattle ranch. Its might belong to residents were ey. In return, the owner had been Mexican, American, farmers, but settlers agreed to granted a tract or European set- store owners, sell extra crops to of land by the tlers. Most ranchos innkeepers, and soldiers from the government. Early included the craftspeople presidio. Progress ranchos belonged owner’s house also lived there. was slow, but to Californios, while and homes for To encourage col- eventually, a few ranchos granted workers, plus fields onists, the Spanish pueblos grew into after Mexican and pastures. offered free land, towns and cities. EACH PUEBLO HAD AN alcalde, or mayor. At the center of each pueblo was an open plaza where people could meet. A church and other important buildings surround- ed the plaza. mexican_settlement_sp3_B.indd 16 1/30/17 12:13 PM r SOLDIERS years. They were stationed at the still ordered to presidios arrived farm, hunt, build, from Mexico deliver mail, and expecting the supervise Indian full support of workers. Some the government. soldiers had joined Instead, they often the military will- went without pay ingly and stayed or supplies for loyal to their long periods. The cause; others had presidios were been forced to join. uncomfortable Some had even places to live. been sent to the When Mexico presidios as pun- decided to fight for ishment. Soldiers independence from were sometimes Spain, the soldiers quite cruel to were left alone for California Indians. A PRESIDIO WAS A areas, storage, and A HACIENDA WAS A MISSION WAS claimed the land fort built to defend the commander’s a large estate. the spiritual, and its citizens for Alta California for home. Soldiers It might include business, and Spain. Local Indians Spain. It was built protected the fort. ranchos, mines, political headquar- lived, worked, and in the shape of a Each presidio was and other busi- ters of a region. A worshipped there. square. A court- placed to have nesses. The owner Franciscan mis- A mission was also yard inside was a clear view of of a hacienda was sionary from Spain a way station for surrounded by a approaching ships. called a patrón. ran it. The mission travelers. chapel, sleeping Wealthy patróns often lived far away.