By the 1700s Spain’s strength as a
world power was declining. The
incredible wealth imported from the
New World had been squandered in European
wars, leaving Spain’s economy in ruins. Large
exploratory expeditions in search of new
wealth were now a thing of the past. Colonists,
many of whom were now American-born
rather than immigrants, were organizing
ranches, mines, and missions from Florida to
New Mexico. Recent Pueblo Indian revolts
in New Mexico left the frontier dangerous
for explorers, unrewarding for newcomers
looking to make a living, and a challenge to
Christian missionaries pursuing religious
conversion of the region’s Native inhabitants.
Resistance to expansion stiffened as Native
American communities associated European
arrival with smallpox and other fatal diseases.
Yet European-born missionaries, princi-
pally Franciscans and Jesuits, continued to
arrive. The danger of entering hostile lands
was an acceptable risk to missionaries who
viewed martyrdom in the course of preaching

their religion to be an honor. Throughout the

1700s, this missionary activity would result in

new routes between Mexico and California. It

would also prepare Spain’s strategic defense of

its North American colonies against increas-

ing challenges from France, England, and

Russia.

No explorer promoted the first stage of this

shift toward California more industriously

than Father Eusebio Kino. The Italian-born

priest was a Jesuit, a member of the Society of

Jesus, a Catholic order whose adherents dedi-

cated themselves to preaching and higher

education. When Kino arrived in Mexico in

1681, the former mathematics teacher was

knowledgeable in disciplines that would aid

him in relating what he found in the New

World, including geography, cartography, and

astrology. His first assignment was to establish

a mission in Baja (Lower) California. He sailed

from Mexico’s Pacific coast across the Gulf of

California as official cosmographer with the

1683 colonizing expedition of Admiral Isidro

Atondo y Antillón. The colony quickly failed,

145

The Road to California

The 1700s

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