History of California: The Spanish Period

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - Early Modern

Authors: Charles Edward Chapman In Year : 1923

Book Language: English

Audiobook: History of California: The Spanish Period

Preface
The Effect of Geography upon California History
The Indians
The Chinese along the Pacific Coast in Ancient Times
The Japanese Opportunity in the Pacific in the Early Modern Period
Cortés and California
Origin and Application of the Name California
The Northern Mystery and the Discovery of Alta California
The Manila Galleon
Drake and New Albion
Gali and Rodríguez Cermenho
Sebastián Vizcaíno
The Overland Advance to the California Border, 1521-1687
Sea Approaches from New Spain to California, 1615-1697
The Jesuits in Baja California, 1697-1768
Progress of the Idea of Overland Advance to the Californias, 1697-1765
José de Gálvez
The Spanish Occupation of Alta California
The Pacification of Sonora
The Precarious Footing of the Early Settlements in Alta California
The Russian and English Agressions in the Pacific Northwest
Antonio Bucareli
Bucareli's Attention to the Local Problems of the Californias
Juan Bautista de Anza
The Founding of San Francisco
The Commandancy General of the Frontier Provinces
The Yuma Massacre
The Aftermath
Junípero Serra
Fermín Francisco de Lasuén
Spanish Californian Institutions
The Romantic Period, 1782-1810
Inland Explorations and Indian Wars, 1804-1823
Era of the Wars of Independence, 1810-1822
Under Mexican Governors, 1822-1835
Waiting for Old Gloriy, 1835-1847

If you have ever wondered why Spain (and not Japan, which was so so much better positioned to do it) was first to “settle” the Golden State, this book is for you. Professor Chapman has produced a comprehensive and highly entertaining popular history of “the Californias,” beginning with a nod to geography and the native races and carrying on through to the arrival of Old Glory in 1848. What might in less capable hands have proved a heavy historical loaf to digest is lightened and leavened with the yeast of “interesting incident” throughout. Consider the plight of the newly-appointed Governor of Alta California, Pedro Fages, whose own wife, the fiery Catalan Doña Eulalia Callis, who, when she wasn't giving away to the “naked indians” all of her own clothes (and the Governor's, too) secretly petitioned the authorities in Mexico for his removal from office. The author relates at some length the romantic story of beautiful Conceptión Argüello, who chose to wait faithfully all her life for the return of the rascally Razánov the Russian, with whom she had fallen in love. The tragic conclusion of this affair is touchingly imagined in an extended quote from the famous poem by Bret Harte.(1) But not all is frivolity. The historical meat is here as well, in breadth and in detail. The author's stated purpose is “to show that California history is important as well as interesting,—that the great Anza expedition of 1775-1776 and the Yuma massacre of 1781 demand inclusion in any comprehensive history of the United States,—that California, while it indeed has a romantic history to tell, has also a great deal more than that to contribute to the cherished traditions of the American people.” (Preface) (1) Conceptión de Argüello. by Bret Harte, Presidio de San Francisco, 1800. - Summary by Steven Seitel