subject: History Of The Californias [print this page] The Baja California region encompasses the Baja Peninsula, jutting off of the United States' mainland, stretching south from the U.S. border and extending 1,220 km (760 miles) south/southeast of mainland Mexico. On the east, the Baja Peninsula is bordered by The Gulf of California (a.k.a. the Sea of Cortez), and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula includes the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, with the state line dividing the peninsula nearly in half, just north of the city of Guerrero Negro. In addition to Baja California's mountainous features and touristy vacation spots, the region includes numerous smaller islands off of the eastern and western coastal regions, as well as numerous smaller inlets and bays.
Aboriginal History of Pre-Columbian Baja California
Archeological records, dating to the 10th and 11th centuries B.C. indicate the settlement of both the mainland peninsula, as well as the Cedros Islands, located off the west-central coast. These early inhabitants were inclusive of three distinct ethnic groups: the Cochimi in the northern region, the Guaycura centrally, and the Pericu to the south.
The Cochimi on the mainland of Baja lived primarily a hunter-gatherer existence, while those of the Cochimi who resided in the Cedros Islands established a relatively complex system of subsistence agriculture. The Pericu and Guaycura of the mainland supplemented the hunter-gatherer lifestyle with fishing.
Descendants of all three ethnic groups can be found among the populations of present-day Baja. Their largest concentrations appear in the northernmost peninsula areas.
The Spanish Incursion and Aboriginal Resistance
Having conquered the mainland Mexico in the early 1500s, fables of an island of golden abundance led them westward and in 1532, Hernando Cortes sent ships in search of this treasure. When the first expedition failed to discover the gold, Cortes set out himself, landing on islands just off the southern tip of Baja California Sur. Cortes was unsuccessful; gold was never discovered, and he eventually returned to his native Spain in 1542 without establishing any colonies in Baja.
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo journeyed into the Baja region in 1542 but his ventures would be the last visitation from the Spanish for more than five decades.
In the decades that followed, trade, and therefore shipping traffic, between mainland Mexico and the South Pacific Islands grew. The Aboriginal Californians saw the return of the Spanish in the 1590s, when the Spanish tried to establish a station for rest and supplies on the west coast, giving ships a reprieve from the long jaunt across the Pacific; however, the native population resisted the Spanish incursion. Spanish efforts failed and no shipping stations were established in the area for nearly another 160 years.
Determined to establish colonies in Baja, three ships of Spaniards arrived in early 1683. The original colony was located at La Paz, on the east coast but local tribal resistance required the colonists to move further inland. After the failure of the second colony, the remaining colonists returned to mainland Mexico, defeated.
The Time of the Spanish Missionaries
The first permanent Spanish settlement was established in 1695 by a Jesuit priest, Juan Maria Salvatierra at the Mision Nuestra Snora de Loreto. The mission became the Spanish capital of the region and 23 additional missions sprang up over the course of the following seven decades, prospering and growing until the assumption of the Spanish thrown by King Carlos III. The new king's distrust of Jesuit power eventually led to the forced removal of all Jesuits from the colonies.
In the 1700s, Franciscan missionaries moved into the region, led by Father Junipero Serra who was mandated by the king to expand Spanish territory as far north as possible. Serra established numerous missions in the northern peninsula and an additional 21 missions within the area that is the present-day U.S. state of California.
Dominican missionaries assumed authority of the former Jesuit missions in the late 18th century and built another nine missions of their own in northern Baja.
When mainland Mexico became abuzz with talk of independence in the early 19th century, Baja was not unaffected. After Mexican independence was won in 1821, the Baja Spanish Missions were forced to forfeit their authority in the region. Baja became a federal territory of Mexico and in 1832, all former Spanish missions were made parishes within an administrative structure determined by the Mexican government.
From Conflict to Statehood
While Spanish missionaries and Mexican mainlanders were spreading north into what is the present-day western regions of the United States, settlers from the east and midwest of the contemporary United States were headed west, resulting in the mixing of various cultures, including the surviving natives of Baja. This mixture inevitably led to conflicting interests, heighted by the Mexican refusal to sell a large portion of its northern territories to the United States. The Mexican American War followed, with mercenaries invading Baja, as American forces invaded other northern regions of the Mexican territories.
In 1848, a defeated Mexico was forced to comply with the United States' western expansion agenda, selling its northern territories to the United States for $15 million. Originally, the Baja Peninsula was slated with the northern territories as part of the ceded regions but was later removed from the negotiations, remaining a Mexican territory.
More conflict was in store for the Californians in the 20th century, as rebellion stirred in mainland Mexico in opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Rebels in Baja seized control of Tijuana and Mexicali, fueling the rebellious efforts in the mainland with stories of Californian successes in territorial campaigns.
The Mexican Revolution ended in 1921 with Mexico's liberation from dictatorial rule. Baja California experienced relative peace and growth, being granted statehood in December of 1952, adopting a constitution the following year, with an elected governor and state legislature.
