Spaniards

In 1542, a famous Spanish explorer, Cabrillo, found the coast of California. He claimed the land for the Spanish government. When the Spaniards heard that the Russians were coming down from Alaska to California they acted quickly to settle the land. With the help of the Native Americans, they built 21 missions up the California coast. A mission is a Spanish church. At the missions was a different way of living. Priests taught the Native Americans Spanish, how to take care of livestock, how to grow crops, and their religion, Christianity. The Spanish at first were not supposed to trade with the Russians. But when they realized that the Russians needed food and they had lots of it, they traded anyways. In 1834, Mexico won their independence over Spain, the missions were secularized and then abandoned.

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