Erika Gonzalez

Professor Trimble

LBS 375

March 31, 2016

Synthesis Paper: The Effects of the California Missions on the Native American Population

Before the arrival of the Spanish to California, Native Americans lived a very

comfortable life living off of their lands and environments. Everything changed with the arrival

of the Spanish and their settlement of the missions. The mission system drastically affected the

lives of Native Americans in many ways and changed their lives forever.

Most of California was inhabited by Native Americans. Many of the Natives didn't travel

very far from their homes due to the language barriers. There was diversity of culture groups

caused by geographic isolation (PowerPoint). California was a very culturally diverse region

and many of the natives living in this region lived side by side in a relatively stable socio-

cultural milieu, they maintained separate identities and, at the same time, shared ideas and

assets (Bean, p.303). Native Americans had a different type of religion from the Spanish, they

believed in sacrifices and performing rituals. They also believed in the use of supernatural

power to control events or transform reality... generally magic was used in attempts to control the

weather, increase the harvest crops, and foretell the future (Bean, p.308). Much of their food

they acquired was from the area they lived in, for example, coastal people acquired their food by

fishing from the shores of the ocean, and they also undertook deep-sea fishing (Bean, p.309).

Everyone in the groups of Natives had a job to do, men, women, and children, young and old,

contributed to the good of the group (Bean, p.309).

 After the settlement of the missions by the Spanish they recruited many Natives and

evangelized them. The goal of the missions was to convert the Natives and make them into

gente de razn meaning people of reason. A lot of the Native Americans did not want to be

part of the missions and tried running away. Unfortunately the consequence for running away

involved them getting beaten. When ever any Native tried running away it resulted in them

being recaptured. Even though many Natives did not want to be part of the Spanish missions

some of them accepted the missions and transitioned successfully and were hispanicized into

productive farmers, artisans, vaqueros, and choral singers (Starr, p.41).

Daily life in the missions was not easy for the Natives. Everything was different from

what they were accustomed. Their villages were close to the missions and each of their huts had

many of them living in each of them. According to La Prouse, after arriving at the Mission of

San Carlos he observed the Indian village consisted of about fifty huts, which serve for seven

hundred and forty persons of both sexes including their children (Prouse, p.218). Those same

huts were very weak and had very little protection. The Natives living in the missions would be

punished if they did not follow the rules of the missions, corporal punishment is inflicted on the

Indians of both sexes who neglect the exercises of piety, and many sinsare punished by irons

and the stocks (Prouse, p.219). Many of the Indians were converted and baptized and if after

being baptized any of them tried running away they were summoned back to the mission. Those

who ran away were summoned three times to return, and if he refused, the missionaries applied

to the government, who sent soldiers to seize him, conduct him to the mission, where he is

condemned to receive a certain number of lashes with the whip (Prouse, p.219). For the rest of

the Natives who followed the rules of the missions their daily lives consisted of prayer, eating

and work. Every morning consisted of both the Indians and missionaries going to prayers and
mass, which lasts for an hour (Prouse, p.220). After prayer and mass they would eat for 45

minutes followed by work. The men had different types of work, some of them worked outside

in the land, others in the garden and others in domestic jobs all while being monitored by the

missionaries (Prouse). After a few hours of working the Indians had a break in order to eat, at

noon the bells give notice of the time of dinner, the Indians then quit their workthey return to

work from two to four or five o clock, when they repair to evening prayer, which continues

nearly an hour (Prouse, p.220). Their daily lives were very structured and consisted of always

praying. Natives had to follow all the rules implemented and if they disobeyed they were

punished by the whip. Both women and men were punished by the whip, but for women it was

never done in public. On the other hand men were whipped in public for the others to see in

order for their punishment to serve as an example (Prouse, p.221). Many of the Indians would

ask for a pardon, but that only meant the person whipping diminished the force but not the

amount of lashes (Prouse). The daily lives of the Natives changed drastically compared to their

lives before the missions.

Regardless of the the drastic changes the missions brought for the Native Californians the

missions had some positive effects. One of the positive things it brought to the Indians was that it

made them more civilized. The missions also helped them learn a new language making them

bilingual. The mission system also introduced them to new foods and to domestic occupations.

With the arrival of the missions came a lot of negative effects on the Indians. One of

those effects was the missions forcing them into the mission system. The Spanish brought them

into the mission systemfrequently against their willand treated them as children not yet

possessed of full adulthood (Starr, p.41). Besides the drastic changes the Natives had to endure

living in the missions they also suffered from many diseases. With the arrival of the Spanish
came many diseases. Those diseases took many Indian lives. Their bodies had never been

exposed to them in which their bodies couldn't fight them. Some of the diseases that the Spanish

brought to California were venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea. Various diseases

also spread like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis

taking a large number of Indian lives (Nash, p.20). Looking back at the deaths of many Indians

these diseases that the Spanish brought to California took more than 50,000 lives (Nash).

Many changes came with the arrival and establishment of the missions in California

affecting the Native Americans. Their lives went from living off of their land with no one telling

them what to do, to having to convert their religion and changing their daily lives. Many of them

were able to make the transition to the missions but many suffered from it.
 References

Bean, L. J. (1992). Indians of California: Diverse and complex peoples. California History,

71(3), 302-323.

Nash, L. (2006). Inescapable ecologies: A history of environment, disease, and knowledge.

Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 20-23.

Perouse, J. (1936). A visit to Monterey in 1786: And a description of the Indians of California.

California Historical Society Quarterly (15, 3), 216-223. doi:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160650.

Starr, K. (2007). California: A history. New York: Random House.