Missions of California

18th to 19th-century Catholic religious outposts in California

The California missions were made by Spain and were located in Alta California, now known as just California. The purpose of these missions were to bring Christianity to the natives. Many of the cities you see today in California are named after the missions. Spain sent priests and soldiers to build the missions. The leader of the priests was Junipero Serra. They often used violence to force the natives into helping to build their missions. Other times they would bribe the natives, promising to give them spices and money. The natives were forced to stay at the missions until their training was complete. As a result, many natives tried to escape. These natives were brought back to the mission, beaten, and punished. The soldiers would often beat the natives in public to show the natives what would be done if they didn't follow the rules. The end of the mission era in Alta California was after Mexico was finally free from Spain. Mexico decided that they would close down the missions. Today, the missions of California are used as wedding places, churches, and museums.

Mission La Purísima Concepción

The 21 missions of California are listed in order by the date that they were made.

  1. (1769) Mission San Diego de Alcalá
  2. (1770) Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
  3. (1771) Mission San Antonio de Padua
  4. (1771) Mission San Gabriel
  5. (1772) Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
  6. (1776) Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
  7. (1776) Mission San Juan Capistrano
  8. (1777) Mission Santa Clara de Asís
  9. (1782) Mission San Buenaventura
  10. (1786) Mission Santa Barbara
  11. (1787) Mission La Purísima Concepción
  12. (1791) Mission Santa Cruz
  13. (1791) Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
  14. (1797) Mission San José
  15. (1797) Mission San Juan Bautista
  16. (1797) Mission San Miguel Arcángel
  17. (1797) Mission San Fernando Rey de España
  18. (1798) Mission San Luis Rey de Francia
  19. (1804) Mission Santa Inés
  20. (1817) Mission San Rafael Arcángel
  21. (1823) Mission San Francisco Solan