A brief description of the culture of the Chumash. Read about their canoes, houses, and understanding of astronomy.

Detailed lesson plan that uses primary sources to help students learn about the people of California from pre-Columbian times to the Mexican rancho periods.

This website tells about the emergence of secularization of Spanish California, which resulted in the decline of the missions.

Use this site to learn how the natives lived in missions and were educated and converted to Christianity. Also learn who established the missions and why they were created.

A collection that uses primary sources to explore the history of Spanish missions in California.

The Library of Congress makes available these eyewitness accounts of California's history from 1849 to 1900.

This is a short biography of Father Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest who founded many of the Catholic missions in California.

From the "Century" magazine, an article from 1890 by James Bidwell who came to California in 1841.

A brief look at each of five Spanish missions established in the 1700s along the San Antonio River in California.

Table of Contents of an easy-to-understand history of California ranging from the first peoples to the turn of the century and covers the topics of the Missions, the discovery of gold, the towns and the cities.

Find background information about the life of Father Junipero Serra and his biographer, Father Francisco Palou. Read about the missions they established in California and their work in converting Native Americans to Christianity. Click...

Founded and directed by the internationally renowned architect and author Nader Khalili, this institute works to create homes from the earth using such materials as sand, clay, and dirt. Its mission is to create tree-less places for...

Seee how Mexico's independence from Spain affected not only the Mexicans who lived in California, but also the native population, and the white Americans.

This hotel has become the largest Mission Revival style through progressive additions and embellishments since its first predecessor cottage was built in 1876. In addition to lodgings, it features shops, a chapel, furniture from around...

The San Diego History Center provides the interesting story of Portola, an early governor of California. Provides a great story about Monterey.

An 1890 article in "Century Magazine" by Guadalupe Vallejo relates his understanding of Hispanic influences on ranches and missions that existed in California before it became a state.

one of only 2 remaining wooden coasters on the West coast, it was built in 1925 by noted coaster builders Prior and Church. It was saved from destruction in 1987, restored, and is still operating today.

Junipero Serra (1713-1789) was a missionary who worked in Mexico and later California, mainly among the native people. He was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988. This is a short profile of his life.

The 16th California Mission church remains well preserved and still in use today though under earthquake remediation construction. Inside are murals by Esteban Munras.

The second Roman Catholic California Mission Church, this was the headquarters of the padre presidente, Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen . It was destroyed in the mid-19th century and restored in 1884 and 1920. It remains a parish...

The first fortified presidio, it along with the first mission, San Diego Mission Church, paved the way for Spanish colonization of California. No structures remain, but the site is now located in Presidio Park.

This was the first Spanish Mission in Alta California and the start of El Camino Real. Originally located in the Presidio of San Diego, it later moved a few miles away. The nearby Old Mission Dam, also a NHL, provided water for milling...

The first major irrigation project on the Pacific coast, this dam supplied water for milling and irrigation at the Mission San Diego de Alcala, 5 miles away. Now part of Mission Trails Regional Park.

Now a historical park, it is the only example in California of a "complete" mission complex.