Franciscan Missions In Alta California Summary

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The French and the Spanish both had a great impact on the Native Americans hundreds of years ago. The Spanish arrived at Alta California where they planned to establish 21 missions along the coast from San Diego to Santa Rosa. Their main goal was to convert Native Californians into Catholic peasants. On the other hand, the French were eager to colonize the northern country. The French wanted the beavers’ valuable fur, but the Indians were much better at hunting them down than they were at it. This worked out well, since it gave the Indians something to trade with the settlers who desired the beaver fur. In the two articles, one entitled Franciscan Missions in Alta California, by Kent G. Lightfoot, and the other entitled The Fur Trade and New France to 1676 (Prologue), by Claiborne A. Skinner, each author is able to describe what life was like in these missions/ports during this time period. …show more content…

These Franciscans were very systematic when it came to placing each building in order to create a substantial enculturation mechanism. Lightfoot states, “The mission complexes were self-contained agrarian communities encompassing a complex infrastructure of religious buildings, craft shops, storage facilities, dormitories, aqueducts, and structures for processing grains, fruits, and meat” (Lightfoot, 80). However, outside of these churches and conventos was where the Indian neophytes lived and worked. Those that came were required to be laborers in craft production as well as agriculture; they were the missions’ economic

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