Chapter 5 reading, pages 188–195

Hold the two Spanish designs apart

Pages 188–195 cover one institution family, mission-presidio society, used in two places at two times. If you mix New Mexico after 1680 with California after 1769, the comparison question will collapse.

Today's slice

Planner note 429 is only pages 188–195 of Chapter 5, the section on mission-presidio societies. Parts 1–3 and 5 are separate days. Do not treat this page as the whole chapter.

Today's slice (2)

The learning objective in the source is to define the purpose of mission-presidio societies and to distinguish New Mexico from California. After the reading, take the short checkpoint on this slice only.

After 1680, the Spanish design changes

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 showed how exposed Spanish colonialism was in the far north of New Spain: thin missions and towns such as Santa Fe, set among denser Indigenous communities, hundreds of miles from Mexico City and from the silver mines.

After 1680, the Spanish design changes (2)

Retreat might have made sense. Spain stayed in part because the English and especially the French, anchored by Louisiana, were pressing in. The contest for the continent kept the northern line in play.

Why presidios took over

Earlier policy leaned on Jesuit and Franciscan missions to pacify and convert. Those gains were limited, and they failed when Native discontent became revolt. After that, military defense and trade moved to the front. The military base was the presidio.

Why presidios took over (2)

By 1750 a Spanish mission in northern New Spain was usually next to a presidio. The presidio, not the mission, had become the dominant institution. Apache raiding across Gran Apacheria made fortified posts more useful than isolated missions.

California as a late mission rebirth

Spain had seen the Pacific coast in the sixteenth century and was not impressed. Interest returned in the eighteenth century when Russians, English, and French activity threatened to approach Mexico's silver mines from the northwest.

California as a late mission rebirth (2)

San Diego was planted in 1769. Franciscan Junipero Serra then helped extend a coastal chain of missions, presidios, and ranchos. California had been home to a dense, diverse Indigenous population of perhaps 300,000 people in hundreds of bands, speaking as many as ninety languages, living by hunting, fishing, and gathering rather than Spanish-style agriculture.

Neophytes, labor, and loss

Indigenous people inside the missions were called neophytes. They were expected to accept Christianity, Spanish speech, dress, and family life, and to work the fields, herds, buildings, and irrigation. They were not free to leave. Corporal punishment met runaways and other disobedience.

Neophytes, labor, and loss (2)

A friar in the chapter wrote that they lived well free, but once reduced to a Christian community life they fattened, sickened, and died. Mission rolls still grew, reaching 13,500 by 1800, while the coastal Native population fell from about 60,000 to 35,000 and California's overall Native population dropped by about a third, from 300,000 to 200,000.

Keep New Mexico and California distinct

Do not flatten these into one 'Spanish mission story.' New Mexico after 1680 moves toward presidios because revolt and raiding made missions a weak hold. California after 1769 revives missions on the coast to lock down a distant claim, then holds Indigenous labor inside those missions.

Keep New Mexico and California distinct (2)

When you can state that contrast in your own words, take the pages 188–195 checkpoint. One short response and one 100-word essay. Nothing there goes to the course.

Final checklist

Tick these off as you go. Saved in this browser.

• I read only pages 188–195, not the rest of Chapter 5 today.
• I can explain why presidios outgrew missions in the Southwest after 1680.
• I can separate New Mexico's later presidio-centered design from California's coastal missions.
• I can say what neophyte life required and what happened to coastal Native numbers.
• I finished the Part 4 checkpoint.