Spanish California
of the Spanish galleons sailing from Manila to Acapulco. Once again
nothing was done and California remained undisturbed by European
settlement for another two centuries.
In the second half of the eighteenth century the world balance of power
was shifting and New Spain was being threatened by several European
powers including England, France and Russia. The Spanish King, Carlos III,
decided that Spain would have to physically occupy California or risk losing
it. In 1769 Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra led an expedition
that established missions and presidios in San Diego and Monterey and
discovered the hitherto unknown port of San Francisco. Serra, who
remained in California after Portola departed, together with his successors
established a system of missions running from San Diego in the south to
Sonoma in the north. These together with a few undermanned presidios
and very small towns were to constitute the high water mark of Spanish
involvement in California.
annaabi.ee 
