California Mission System

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As we look back in history, you would expect for everyone to accept one another and remove any racial prejudices that exist towards certain groups. However, not much has changed in this century and many minority groups including the California natives are still looked down upon. With the arrival of the Spanish in 1769, the land of California has been forgotten as the homeland to the California natives and now recognized as the land of the superiors. The California natives were exposed to harsh cruelty under the Spanish as well as the California settlers during the Gold Rush. Many are uneducated as to what happened here in California and the main reason why so many are uneducated is due to the fact that it is not being taught in schools. The …show more content…

Many Natives were forced to follow a new lifestyle and were forced to destroy and forgot about the old ways. The Spanish saw the natives as people with no moral and no human dignity therefore they saw them as an investment that would help them prosper only on their behalf. The mission system was created around the 1760s and each mission had one goal which was to introduce the ways of the Catholic Church to the California natives. The head of the mission system was led by Juniperro Serra, who now many consider him a saint for the “great accomplishments” he has completed. The mission system flourished by using inhuman tactics that caused the natives to remain submissive to the Spanish. The mission systems were built on lies and torture. The natives were not lured in by goods, they were brought in as slaves to create and sustain the missions, “Consequently, neophytes were lured to mission with beads, trinkets, food, clothing and promises of a better life. Little pressure was applied and likely converts were encouraged to watch, and eventually to help in building the mission edifice itself” (Archibald 2). Some might actually believe that the natives independently agreed to this form of lifestyle. Schools might teach their children that no pain was brought upon the natives when in reality great pain was inflicted upon the …show more content…

The natives were peaceful individuals but the Spanish took advantage of them, “Early Spanish explores found a “multitude” of people on the overland route of Don Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774. Their diaries are filled with surprise at the many people they met, friendly, and helpful” (Costo 10). The natives were not harmful the Spanish took the first step in colonizing them and extracting their identity. Another reason why the Spanish were capable of their actions was because the Spanish did not see the natives as human beings they saw them as animals that needed to be tamed and trained. The Spanish believed that the natives did not have the knowledge to control their lives, “No matter how old they are; California Indians are always children” (Hutchinson 341). The Spanish believed that through their religion they would help the natives achieve a better life. However, the Spanish created a life of pain and torture for the natives. Their religion taught them nothing it only introduced them to a painful life. Many natives were removed from their homes and families and were forced to live among the other natives on the mission. The Spanish saw it as their human duty to give these natives a sense of identity because according to them they had no form of life. However, the natives were in fact living a decent prosperous life. They had their own form of unity

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