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The Pre-American California Experience

Ryan Wymore

California State University, Fullerton

LBST 310

Professor Bruce Rubin

February 28, 2022

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In this prompt I will be discussing how the geography of California lent itself to natural

and cultural diversity. After that, I will be talking about how successful the Native Americans

were in adapting to environmental challenges. And lastly, how the Spanish and Mexicans

handled those same environmental problems, along with new ones.

The geography of California lends itself to natural and cultural diversity in many different

ways. The California we know today has a vast reputation that revolves around sunny beaches,

Hollywood stars, and huge cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, the early

Californians didn’t see their land as a tourist attraction. Instead, they saw it as, “a kind of island

on the land, sealed off by the Pacific, the Sierra Nevada, the Klamth and Cascade ranges in the

north, and the Mojave desert in the southeast.” (Starr pg. 10). As seen from the passage,

California’s natural diversity is extremely broad compared to the other states around the nation.

There are beautiful spectacles of nature both in the mountains, and by the sea. These features

allowed cultures to diversify themselves along the different sections of the land. For example,

there could be a Native American tribe that resides along the coast, while an entirely different

tribe keeps themselves tucked away in the mountains.

The Native Americans were the very first people to experience, and thrive, in California’s

natural beauty. They were also the first to be tested against the environmental challenges

California presented to them. During the centuries that the Native Americans thrived, they had

amassed a gigantic population spanning over, what is to be thought, around three hundred

thousand people. Amongst the tribes and territories, “the early inhabitants of California found in

their various regions more than enough flora and fauna to sustain their lives; they were,
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therefore, not warlike in their relationships with each other.” (Starr pg. 14). This relates to

anthropology because it shows how the Native Americans, as a society, adapted to their

environment. Unlike every other civilization that followed after them, the Native Americans

never let greed infect their minds. Rather than fighting to hold the most resources and power,

they only gathered what they needed for survival and worked alongside the other tribes to sustain

their way of life.

Not only does California’s geography have the most beauty, but it also proved to be a

vital location for the Spanish Empire. In 1579, Sir Francis Drake had come back from a sailing

voyage where he spent some time on the coast of California with his men and the natives. He

emphasized to Queen Elizabeth the, “strategic importance of California as a place midway

between the Spanish interests in Southeast Asia and the Far East, and the imperial construct of

New Spain and the viceroyalty of Peru.” (Starr pg. 25). This passage proves how California’s

geography lent itself to aspects of cultural diversity because Sir Francis Duke saw the potential

of the land he sailed to. While the Spanish only saw California as land for their own people,

California’s Mexican governor at the time, Jose Figueroa, saw things drastically differently. In

1834, Figueroa argued that “the mission lands should be secularized in favor of the Indians living

on them and not merely for the benefit of arriving colonists.” He went on to say, “these were

Indian lands” and, “it was the formal intent of the mission system to transform the Native

Americans into fully-fledged citizens.” (Starr pg. 48). This passage relates to the very history of

California itself because of how radically different ideologies between the Spanish and Mexicans

were at the time. During the time the Spanish had control of California, they used the cover of a

“mission system” to take over an entire culture’s homeland. In fact, the Spanish attempted to
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enslave the Native Americans. But when the Mexicans rose to power and Figueroa was

established as governor, he was set to radically change the way people treated the Native

Americans on their own soil. Unfortunately, Figueroa passed the following year, and the

treatment of the Native Americans only became slightly better. It was extremely unfortunate that

Figueroa passed, because if he didn’t, who knows what impact that would’ve made on history.

California is a breathtaking, yet vulnerable land. Many different civilizations have

inhabited its diverse scenery. The Native Americans were its original caretakers, maintaining its

natural beauty for what it was. But when others found it, they saw it as an opportunity for money,

power, and glory.