Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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The missionaries’ arrival drastically altered native life in the Big Sur region. The newcomers claimed the land and brought Ohlone, Esselen, and Salinian natives into the missions. Some welcomed the priests, while others were lured by exotic gifts of glass beads, colored fabric, metal tools, and livestock. Forced conversion and de facto enslavement was not mission policy prior to 1800, but when natives resisted, more coercive methods were used. Missionaries justified their enslavement of “heathens” as acceptable if the natives ultimately converted to Christianity and found salvation.

In 1821, Mexico declared independence from Spanish rule, and in 1834 the vast mission lands were secularized and divided into livestock “ranchos.” Any law-abiding Mexican Catholic was now eligible to receive land grants. California’s ranching era had begun.

VISITING THE SAN CARLOS BORROMEO DE CARMELO MISSION

Step back in time and enter Father Junipero Serra’s chosen home and final resting place, founded near the mouth of the Carmel River on August 24, 1771. Serra wished to build a permanent stone house of worship that required skilled masons to cut and dress the stones in the style of missions that Serra had erected in Mexico. With no skilled masons available in California, many of the missions never progressed past the humble adobe style, and the Carmel Mission we see today was delayed until years after Serra’s death.