This signature exhibit explores the 21 religious and military
outposts founded by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the
Franciscan Order on “The Royal Road.”
Beginning with Mission San Diego de Alcalá founded in 1769 and
ending with Mission San Francisco Solano founded in 1823, the
California Missions served as the first major European effort to
colonize the Pacific Coast, which gave Spain a valuable toehold
in the New World. In addition to introducing livestock, farming
and ranching to the region, the settlers of “Alta California”
assisted the quest to expand the Spanish Empire in North American
by subjugating many of the Indigenous peoples into European
culture and the Catholic religion as citizens of Nueva España, or
“New Spain.”
Secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, the Missions
represent a pivotal chapter of California history, covering a
period of great transition.
