Carrillo, Annette

February 18, 2015

LBS 375-Kristal Cheek

California was once home to hundreds of natives who lived all across the state
unbothered by the outside world. Unfortunately, exploration by the Spanish would eventually
end the life the natives built and had become accustomed to. The Spanish search for gold and
treasures would force the natives to convert and leave their way of life behind without any say.
The Spanish arrived and built missions in which priests were in charge and had the protection of
armed military men. They were sent to establish a new way of life on the natives land where
they enforced their customs and traditions. Life on the missions was more negative for the
California Indians than it was positive. The natives were taken advantage of and forced into
slavery, hard labor, and were punished severely if they ever intended to disobey or challenge the
Spanish who ran the missions.
When the missions were built California Indians were taught Spanish and were also
baptized into the Christianity religion. Here in the missions, the natives were expected to actively
participate during mass such as praying and confessing their sins. Although the idea of the
church may have seen as an opportunity for the natives to learn a new language, it is obvious that
once the natives arrived, they were forced to stay and participate, thus resulting into slaves.
Natives were kept at missions with whips, canes and goads or sharp, pointed sticks to preserve
silence and maintain order, and what seemed more difficult than either, to keep the congregation
in their kneeling posture. The goads would reach a long way to inflict a sharp puncture without
making any noise. The end of the church was occupied by a guard of soldiers under arms with

fixed bayonets (1.) Being forced to stay in a place that is unwelcoming and where work is
forced is slavery.
The California natives were taught new life skills from farming to being a blacksmith;
however by taking on these new roles, the ones who benefitted the most from this were the
missions and priests. The natives didnt return home with wages or any recognition; they werent
even allowed to leave. The runaway is almost always brought back to the mission, wherean
iron rod a foot-and-a-half long and an inch in diameter is fastened to one of his feet. This
prevents the Indian from making another attempt to escape, and has the effect of terrifying the
others (2.) The natives had a functioning society and had more than enough resources to sustain
themselves, learning new trades could be beneficial if it was to be done on their time, none of
these new ideas were needed nor did they ask to be taught this new way of life.
The natives both men and women were faced with cruel and unfair punishments when
they disobeyed the military. Most importantly the violent sexual aggression the women had been
inflicted by the soldiers was atrocious. The priests reported to Serra that the soldier guards went
at night to the nearby villages to assault the women and that hiding the women did not restrain
the brutes, who beat the men to force them to reveal where the women were hidden (3.) Men
and women were treated without any respect or dignity and many were forced to endure this sort
of unfair treatment. Native women never knew to fear men, rape and beatings didnt take place in
their tribes. Native tribes were far from war-like and were very peaceful as far as violence went.
It is obvious that the missions had a negative influence on their previous system of respect and
were now treated very poorly.
The California natives had built a life for themselves and were in no rush or dire
need to change their way of life. It is very unfortunate that the greed and selfishness of others
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took such a horrible toll on them. They were looked as savages who needed to be civilized in
order to function properly. The result of this was that the Spanish took full advantage of people
who were ill equipped as far as weaponry goes, the natives were willing to open their home and
land to these visitors only to have their way of life ripped from them and given a less fortunate
situation than they deserved. They were tricked and forced into slavery, they were exposed to
abuse and severe punishments, and they were forced into hard labor without any sort of
compensation. The natives were used for the growth of Spain, therefore the negative influences
on them will far outweigh any positive influences the Spanish may have attempted to instill or
provide them with.

Bibliography
Chan, Sucheng. Spanish Violence against Amerindian Women. In Major Problems in
California History: Documents and Essays, 77. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

Doak, Robin S. Resisting the Missionaries. In Voices from Colonial America, 45. Washington,
D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2006.

Padre Antonio de la Concepcion Horra of Mission San Miguel reporting to the New Spain
viceroy.