Lecture 4

Missionary Conquest, California History

This is the point in our class where we take a break from looking at history chronologically, and instead look
at it thematically and geographically.

Missionary Conquest

The following information is from George Tinker’s book Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and
Native American Cultural Genocide that illustrate the way that policies of assimilation (cultural
genocide) have been present throughout post-­­contact American Indian history. Tinker’s book
features four Christian missionaries, highlighting the way that Christian gospel has been used as
a colonial tool in the conquest of the Americas.

1. The way Christianity has been used in the process of colonization is genocidal
Religion is a core component of cultural identity. Forcing someone to change their religion is an
act of cultural genocide.

2. Missionaries and the mission system were enmeshed in a larger colonial project
Often, when we think of Christian missionaries, we think of Christians who voluntarily invest
their own resources (or the resources of the church) to bring the Christian gospel to a new
community. The goal here is to offer the benefits of a religion to a group who would otherwise
not have been exposed to it. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. However, Tinker
points out that this is not what happened in the case of Christian missionaries in the Americas.

The Christian missionaries featured in his book were almost always funded by the government
(not the church), who used them as a tool to colonize Native communities for political gain.
Rather than offering the Christian gospel, this was often forced as part of a larger goal to gain
political and economic control over areas.

Junipero Serra is a prime example of this. Spain was eager to colonize the west coast of the
Americas to stake its claim in territory that was actively being colonized by Russia. To do so, the
 government of New Spain (which would later become Mexico), paid for Junipero Serra to
establish missions and convert Native people in the land that would become California. Here, the
missions were not so much about religion, as about colonizing an area for political gain.

While Serra himself did not necessarily want to benefit from the political and economic
colonization of California, he was never the less a very central part of it. As Serra built
missions, the Spanish military also built presidios (forts), thereby colonizing the area for Spain.
In this case, bringing the Christian Gospel also meant bringing the Spanish military as part of
a larger colonial project.

Junipero Serra

3. To Christian missionaries, “Christianizing” Native people was the same as “Europeanizing”

them.

What does it mean to be a Christian? There are millions of people around the world who identify
as Christian. These people speak different languages, have many different types of jobs, wear
their hair in many different styles etc. To be a Christian is to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ
and worship the Christian God, not to wear your hair in a certain way or speak a certain
language.

Despite this, for Christian missionaries, to be Christian was synonymous with being European.
That means that when American Indians were converted to Christianity they were forced to
adhere to other non-­­religious aspects of European culture. Neophytes (newly converted
Native people) were forced to cut their hair, wear European clothing, speak English (or
Spanish in the case of Junipero Serra), work in European-­­style agriculture etc. Having short
hair and speaking English has nothing to do with being a Christian per se, but to the
missionaries, these things were one and the same. Tinker argues, that this furthered the
project of cultural genocide against Native people because it colonized all aspects of American
Indian culture.

4. Regardless of their intents, we must focus on the outcome.

Tinker points out that Junipero Serra was probably the most violent and cruel of all of the
Christian missionaries featured. However, Tinker also shows that for the most part, all of the
 missionaries he discusses (including Serra) had good intentions. They, for the most part, thought
that what they were doing actually benefited Native people.

Despite that, we must look at the outcome of missionary conquest. Tinker argues that ultimately,
the Christianization of Native people was genocidal.

Resistance to Missionary Conquest

It’s important to remember that people never passively accept their own oppression. Native
people actively resisted missionary colonization in many ways.

Sometimes resistance movements included secretly speaking Native languages and practicing
Native religion. Other resistance movements were armed. For example, there were armed
resistance movements against missionaries at missions San Diego, San Gabriel, San Juan
Bautista, and Santa Cruz. At Mission Santa Cruz, Father Andres Quintana was beaten to death by
Native people after he began using a metal-­­tipped whip in the punishment of mission laborers.

Another great example of resistance is a young woman named Toypurina who organized an
armed revolt against Spanish Missionaries. Here is an image of her (LA refers to the city of Los
Angeles):
California Indian History

As students living and going to school in California, it is vital that we take some time to focus
specifically on the history around us.

California Indian history can be divided into a few important eras.

Pre-­­Contact (Before 1541)

• The land we now know as California has been inhabited for at least 13 -15,000 years. The pre-
contact population was at least 300,000, although some other estimates are as high as
700,000 – 1 million. This makes California the most densely populated area in the United
States before contact.

• California was the most linguistically and culturally diverse part of the United States, with
over 100 different distinct Native nations, speaking over 300 dialects of at least 80 different
distinct languages.

• This cultural diversity was able to develop because California is relatively isolated because of
the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east, and deserts to the
southeast. Despite this relative isolation, California was still part of a highly developed system
of trade that spanned the continental U.S. and beyond.

Early Contact (1541-­­1769)

• Below you will see a map of the approximate location of Native nations at contact.
Remember, this only represents a snapshot at the time of contact, and reflects
thousands of years of shifting, changing and adapting. Also, please note that some
of the names listed below are the European versions of Native nations. For
example, this map lists San Francisco as Costanoan territory. The Native name for
this group is the Ohlone.
After the Pope carved up the new world, the land that would become California technically
came under Spanish control. However, during this period, Spain did not take an active interest in
colonizing it.

It wasn’t until Russia began to colonize northern California that Spain began its colonization of
the area. This was in an effort to stave off the Russian invasion and claim the area for itself.

The way that Spain decided to begin colonizing this area was through the mission system. The
government of New Spain (which would later become Mexico) contracted Junipero Serra to
build a series of Christian missions in California. Again, we can see how the project of
Christianization is enmeshed with the project of political colonization.
Spanish Colonial Period (1769-­­1821)
• This is the time period when the government of New Spain built missions up and down
the coast of California.
Mexican (1821-­­1848)
• In 1821 Mexico declared independence from Spain and the mission system and presidios
came under the purview of the Mexican government.
• During this time period, the Mexican government secularized (dismantled) the mission
system.
• The Mexican government converted the missions into ranchos (large ranches), and opened
up areas east of the missions for Mexican settlement. The idea was to open up commercial
ranching in order to colonize the area and begin collecting taxes.
• Rather than returning the land to Native people, mission lands were often transferred into
the hands of wealthy and well--­connected Spanish-­­Mexicans. The newly colonized areas
were often given to non-­­Native Mexicans for free or next to nothing.
• During this period, California Indians often went from unpaid laborers on missions to unpaid
laborers on the ranchos, looked for work in cities, or fled to remaining Native communities
in the area.
• The Mexican American War:
o This war between the US and Mexico lasted from 1846-­­1848.
o It ended with the 1848 signing of the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
o The treaty ceded a huge amount of land to the U.S. including California.
• Only 9 days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, gold was “discovered” at
Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, CA.

California Territory (1848 – 1850)

• The “discovery” of gold set off a population explosion in California as tens of thousands of
prospectors came to California
• The film Gold, Greed and Genocide also does a great job of showing how the Gold Rush
affected California Indian nations as well as the overall effect of the environmental damage
from gold mining.

California Statehood (1850 – Present)

• The mineral wealth and exploding population from the Gold Rush laid the foundation for
California to become the highly populated economic superpower that it is today.
• Shortly after the Gold Rush, California was admitted into the union and became the 31st
state in the United States.

Finally, a note on population.

• Below is a graph that shows the approximate population of California Indians from 1770
onward.
Note that both the arrival of Spanish missionaries as well as the California Gold Rush clearly
negatively affected the California Indian population. This was due to European diseases, other forms
of physical genocide, as well as a lack of self-­­identification. During the 1800s, many California
Indians identified as Mexican, because—as you know from Trafzer and Hyer’s piece— there was a
system of legalized slavery against California Indians at the time. Please also note that despite the
rapid decline in population, the California Indian population is rising. This is due to increased
population and increased self-­­identification.