The first European to visit these lands was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. In 1542, Cabrillo landed with his soldiers on the shores of the bay he named San Diego and continued his explorations of the California coast northward, annexing the explored territories to the Spanish colonies in the Americas.
In 1579, the English navigator Sir Francis Drake sailed his ship along the California coast, the northern part of which he named “Nova Albion” and declared it a British possession. For the next 200 years, however, no European ever set foot in California again.
Spanish rule
In 1740-1750, traders and hunters of sea animals became interested in the northern coast of California and began to hunt in its waters. Spain immediately decided to consolidate its rule in the region and protect it from encroachment.
Therefore, in 1769, Gaspar de Porto, governor of what is now called “Baja California” (Mexico), sent an expedition with orders to establish the first Spanish mission in the Californian lands. Accompanied by Franciscan missionary Jeanpero Serra, the Spanish expedition landed on the coast of San Diego Bay and established the first settlement, which was also named “San Diego”.
The Spanish established a presidio, or military post, to convert the local Indians to the Christian faith, so that they could later be called subjects of the King of Spain.
Between 1769 and 1823, Franciscan friars built more than 20 missions along the California coast. These missions soon came to control such vast territories that a peculiar chain of territorial possessions was formed from San Diego to San Francisco Bay. Most of the native Indians of the coastal lands were quite sympathetic to the activities of the missionaries and, under the guidance of the friars, took up farm labor.
The Spanish built several more “presidios” in the vicinity of San Diego and organized several small settlements – “pueblos” (pueblos), whose inhabitants were engaged in agriculture. The first pueblo was organized in 1777. The pueblos were settled, as a rule, by poor poor people from Mexico, whom the Spanish were agitating to settle the colonies of the California region.
On September 4, 1781, 44 Spanish missionaries arrived on the sunny shores of the warm ocean: 11 men, 11 women and 22 children. It was this day that went down in history as the date of the founding of Los Angeles. The settlement in northern Mexico was dedicated to the Great Lady – el pueblo de Neustra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porcencula.
However, Spain could not prevent colonists from other countries from settling California lands. Britain, France, and the United States sent their ships to trade with the inhabitants of the Spanish coast of California, violating the border and trade regulations established by Spanish authority. They were all enraptured by the beautiful natural harbors, high mountains, fertile valleys, and near-perfect climate. The warm waters off the coast of California were visited by ships hunting seals and sea otters.
In 1778, English navigator James Cook (1728-1779) explored the northern part of the coast from San Francisco to Alaska. His sailors discovered that a sea otter (kalan) pelt, bought from the Northwest Indians for about $2, was worth $100 in China. This prompted the British and then the Americans to open several trading posts (factories) here.
The territory stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains and from California in the south to Alaska in the north was called the Oregon Lands. In 1803, it was claimed by Spain, the United States, and Great Britain.
In 1793, English merchant Alexander Mackenzie made his way here from Canada. This and other overland expeditions opened up the interior of the Oregon Lands to Great Britain. The United States was not too far behind – in November 1805, the expedition of M. Lewis (1774-1809) and W. Clark (1770-1838) reached the Oregon coast, which began off the Mississippi and lasted two and a half years.
Following Lewis and Clark, hunters and trappers began exploring new routes westward. They mainly explored the passes and passes of the Rocky Mountains in California and Oregon, for which they earned the nickname “mountain men” (mountain dwellers). Their role in the development of western America was extremely important. At the beginning of the XIX century Spain gave up its claims to Oregon. In 1818, the British and Americans agreed on joint management of the territory: in the same year, the border between the United States and British North America (present-day Canada) was formed along the 49th parallel from the Great Lakes to the Oregon lands (eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains).
In 1819, a treaty with Spain established the boundaries between the United States and the Spanish possessions in Mexico, which extended over a vast region of the present states of Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, California, and parts of Colorado.
In 1812, merchants, fur traders, established an office a little north of San Francisco, which now bears the name Fort Ross.