BajaNomad

Guyacuros & Jesuits

academicanarchist - 10-14-2003 at 03:03 PM

The Guaycuros, Jesuit Missionaries, and Jose de Galvez: The Failure of Spanish Policy in Baja California

Robert H. Jackson

Abstract: Between 1697 and 1767/1768, the Jesuits administered missions in the arid Baja California Peninsula. Because of the limited potential for agriculture on the Peninsula, the Jesuits had to import food from neighboring provinces, and allowed a large part of the mission populations to live in settlements separate from the central mission village, and to support themselves by hunting and collecting wild plant foods. Following the Jesuit expulsion Jose de Galvez attempted to reorganize the missions, and shifted indigenous populations to missions with greater agricultural potential. This essay examines the response of the Guaycuros,, one of the indigenous groups in the Peninsula, to Galvez?s policy.

Entre los anos 1697 y 1767/1768, los jesuitas administraban misiones en Baja California. A cause de la limitada potencia de agricultura en la peninsula, los jesuitas importaban comida de provincias vecinas, y permetia a los neofitos permanecer en aldeas separadas de la cabecera de la mision, donde se mantenia por la caza y explotando plantas silvestres. Despues de la expulsion de los jesuitas, Jose de Galvez trato de reorganizer las misiones, trasladando poblaciones indigenas a misiones con mas potencia de agricultura. Este ensayo examina las respuesta de los Guaycuros, uno de los grupos indigenas en la peninsula, a la politica de Galvez.





















The Guaycurosa, Jesuit Missionaries, and Jose de Galvez: The Failure of Spanish Policy in Baja California

In 1697, a band of Jesuits and soldiers arrived at a site called Concho, and established Nuestra Senora de Loreto mission. In the weeks following the founding of the mission the local natives attacked the small outpost, but failed to dislodge the incipient colony. The Spanish Crown had funded an aborted colony in the arid Baja California Peninsula in the mid-1680s, but then had decided to no longer attempt to colonize the Peninsula. Jesuit Juan Maria Salvatierra petitioned the royal government for permission for the Jesuits to establish missions at their own expense, which was granted. Over the next two decades the Jesuits established more missions in Baja California, and consolidated their presence in the districts surrounding Loreto.
In 1720, the Jesuits expanded south into the Magdalena Desert and the Cape Region that surrounds La Paz, the site of an aborted colony established in the 1530s by Hernan Cortes. The term Guaycuros designates a linguistic group that inhabited the arid Magdalena Desert that stretches between Loreto on the north and La Paz on the south. The Guaycuros were nomadic hunters and gatherers who lived in bands of related families, and generally occupied a clearly defined territory within which they collected food. The Jesuits generally denigrated the Guaycura for their dietary habits (Baegert 1952).
In the 1720s and 1730s, the Jesuits established six missions among the native peoples of the southern Cape region and the Magdalena Desert region. In the far south of the Peninsula the Jesuits encountered a relatively wetter climate that supported agriculture, including more specialized crops such as sugar cane. Moreover, with the establishment of San Jose del Cabo mission in 1730, there was a strategically located settlement that could supply fresh water and provisions to the Manila Galleon that coasted Baja California on its return voyage from Manila to Acapulco on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The colonial government had pressed the Jesuits for several decades to find a safe port for the Galleon to stop on the long voyage from Manila to Acapulco. The strongest resistance to the new colonial order occurred in the south with uprisings in October of 1734 and again in the early 1740s. Rebels in 1734 killed Jesuit missionaries Lorenzo Carranco and Nicolas Tamaral, and also ambushed the second galleon to stop at San Jose del Cabo. (Burrus 1984: 104-109). The Jesuits attributed the resistance of the natives to their capricious nature, and to the presence of natives of mixed European-indigenous ancestry, the progeny of pearly fishermen and corsairs who had coasted the pearl beds off of the Peninsula for decades.
In 1721, missionary Clemente Guillen, S.J., established a mission known as Dolores del Sur at a site roughly half way between Loreto and La Paz among the Guaicuros. Guillen had been stationed at San Juan Bautista mission, established a short distance south of Loreto in 1705. The site chosen for the mission initially had a large indigenous population but little water for agriculture. By 1721, few neophytes still lived at the mission (Jackson, 1984). Moreover, hostile natives from several neighboring Islands raided the mission (Burrus 1984: 89-92).. Guillen moved the indigenous population of San Juan Bautista south to the site of the new mission described as having lands that could be irrigated from nine springs (Crosby 1994: 104-108).
The Jesuits formally established a second mission in the territory of the Guaycuros named San Luis Gonzaga, in 1737 at a site called Chiriyaki, near Dolores del Sur mission (Burrus 1984: 240-244). However, shortages of Jesuit personnel delayed the arrival of the first permanent resident missionary until the early 1740s. In late 1743, visitador general Juan Antonio Balthasar reported that San Luis was being established on a more permanent basis (Burrus 1984: 206-208). It should also be noted that in the 1730s several Jesuits who spent time at San Miguel visita of Comondu mission congregated and baptized several dozen Guaycuros. One of the Jesuits was William Gordon, who left La Paz following the outbreak of the 1734 rebellion (Jackson 1984: 99-101).
The goal of the missionaries was to create stable and politically autonomous indigenous communities on the model of the pueblos reales of central Mexico. In addition to conversion to Catholicism, the missionaries were to transform the natives into sedentary farmers, ranchers, and craft industrial producers who would participate in the new colonial order as providers of labor to the government and Spanish entrepreneurs and payers of tribute. However, in much of Baja California the Jesuits had to modify the basic elements of the mission program of social-cultural change. Although the Black Robes imported food into the Peninsula from Sinaloa and Sonora, local production and imports generally did not supply the basic food needs of the neophytes. Therefore, the Jesuits had to allow numbers of natives to continue to live in their traditional settlements euphemistically called visitas, or satellite communities. This was the case in the two missions established among the Guaycuros.
The basis of the mission economies generally was Mediterranean-style agriculture, producing wheat, corn, some barley, and small quantities of fruits and vegetables. The missionaries at Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga had some crops grown on small and irrigated plots of land, but did not produce enough to feed the neophytes (Burrus 1984: 208). Hundreds of Guaycuros lived under minimal supervision from the Jesuits, and continued to live pretty much the way they had prior to the arrival of the Black Robes. Most importantly, the Guaycuros experience minimal change in the organization of labor and time, and did not work in sustained agricultural labor at the two missions. The Jesuits also complained about the continued influence of hechizeros or shaman, and the persistence of traditional religious practices.
In 1768, King Carlos lll ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and its dominions, and in Baja California visitador general Jose de Galvez supervised the expulsion and a reorganization of the Peninsula mission system that now came under direct royal authority. One initiative Galvez implemented was to shift native populations to missions with greater agricultural potential, to ensure labor at those sites with the potential to produce larger crops and thus reduce the cost of importing food into the Peninsula. One mission that Galvez targeted was Todos Santos, established as a mission in 1733. The final mission, Todos Santos, first developed as a satellite village of La Paz mission, established because of the availability of water and arable land. The neophytes settled at Todos Santos produced wheat, corn, rice, and sugar (Burrus 1984: 206-208). In 1733, the Jesuit Sigismundo Taraval established an independent mission at Todos Santos named Santa Rosa. Taraval was to direct the continued development of agriculture at Todos Santos (Crosby 1994: 113). Taraval survived the uprising in the year following the establishment of the mission, and wrote the most detailed account of the uprising and its suppression. In 1749, the Jesuits formally combined La Paz and Santa Rosa missions under the rubric of Nuestra Senora del Pilar, the name of La Paz mission, but the establishment was more commonly called Todos Santos.
Todos Santos produced a variety of crops, and was important in Jesuit plans for the continued colonization of the Peninsula. In addition to corn and wheat, the missionaries directed the planting of sugar cane and rice (Burrus 1984: 208). As noted above, operations at the mission included a sugar mill and distillery. Most of the data on agricultural production are from the years following the Jesuit expulsion, and reflect greatly diminished populations and hence small labor forces and less demand for agriculture. But immediately following the Jesuit expulsion, Galvez viewed Todos Santos as one of the missions in Baja California with considerable potential.
The Jesuits stationed in the six southern missions baptized thousands of indigenous peoples. However, disease and rebellion rapidly decimated the neophyte population. The 1734-1737 rebellion resulted in many deaths, and troops were sent from Sinaloa and rapidly spread venereal disease as they had sexual relations with native women. In the aftermath of the uprising epidemics killed hundreds of neophytes. For example, an outbreak in the fall of 1743 killed more than 500 natives at Santiago mission, and the population dropped from some 1,000 to 449 in 1744 following the epidemic. The population of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga totaled 1,000 and 516 respectively in 1744, but this number dropped to 458 and 288 twenty-four years later in 1768. The population of Todos Santos was some 500 in 1730, and a mere 83 in 1768 (see Table 1).
Galvez tried to promote agriculture at Todos Santos by relocating more than 700 Guaycuros from Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga to Todos Santos. Galvez ordered the suppression of Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga; and moved the neophytes from those two missions to Todos Santos. The surviving neophytes from Todos Santos went to Santiago mission. Many of the neophytes at Santiago had syphilis, and a surgeon was sent to treat the ill at the mission and those transferred from Todos Santos. At the time doctors treated syphilis with mercury pills, which was as bad as the disease being treated. Galvez had 44 people from San Francisco Xavier moved to San Jose del Cabo. As a result of Galvez?s changes, Todos Santos had a population of 746 Guaycurans, the population of Santiago increased to about 261, and 115 now lived at San Jose del Cabo.
From the perspective of the Crown interested in trying to reduce expenses in Mexico and increase revenue the movement of natives between missions made sense, but his plan backfired because the neophytes could not be transformed into a disciplined labor force in a short period of time. Moreover, a measles epidemic in 1769 decimated the population, and many of the Guaycuros fled Todos Santos. In response to the failure his plan to put the Guaycuros to work farming, Galvez ordered the hiring of an overseer and agricultural workers (Jackson 1986).
In the fourteen years following the redistribution of population a series of epidemics swept through Baja California, culminating with a smallpox outbreak in 1781 to 1782. Some 1,122 lived at three missions following the redistribution of population, but the first epidemic, measles in 1769, killed hundreds. In 1771, only 290 survived. At the end of the 1781 to 1782 smallpox outbreak the population of the three missions further declined to 206 (see Table 1). In 1795, the government ordered the suppression of Santiago mission, and the removal of the neophytes to San Jose del Cabo (Jackson 1986:275). In 1808, the population of the last two missions, Todos Santos and San Jose del Cabo, had stabilized at 191.
The Guaycuros resisted the forced relocation and change in lifestyle, and particularly the introduction of a new economy based upon sustained agricultural labor. The natives of southern Baja California had already proven their willingness to resist the new colonial order in several major uprisings. The devastating epidemics of the 1740s most likely profoundly broke the faith of the indigenous population in their own belief system that could not explain the new and horrible diseases that the Jesuits clearly understood. Traditional shaman offered little to alleviate the suffering of the neophytes. The Guaycuruan population of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga certainly experienced the effects of epidemics, but not to the degree as in the missions further south.
Galvez?s relocation of the Guaycuruan to Todos Santos initiated a prolonged crisis that resulted from a major miscalculation on the part of the colonial bureaucrat. Galvez wanted the Guaycuruans to be converted into a labor force overnight, and the neophytes resisted. Francisco Palou, O.F.M., noted that:
The Guaicuros Indians had never settled down in their native missions of La Pasion [Dolores] and San Luis, but lived in the mountains like deer, supporting themselves on wild foods, and attending Mass at the mission when it was the turn of their Village?The visitor [Jose de Galvez] moved all these villages to Todos Santos to live in a settlement. As they were accustomed to live in the woods, it semed hard to them, and they immediately began to run away (Palou 1966: 1: 143).
The Guaycuros fled Todos Santos, and engaged in the theft or destruction of mission property. The Franciscans responded with the use of corporal punishment, an action that backfired. In 1770, a delegation of neophyte leaders from Todos Santos went to Loreto to complain about mistreatment at the hands of the overseer, and shortages of food (Jackson 1986: 276).
Galvez?s policy initiative, while it responded to the pragmatic needs of the Crown, completely misunderstood the realities of the limited social and cultural change the Guaycuros had experienced at Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga missions under the Jesuits. The neophytes had not been converted into a disciplined labor force over three decades under Jesuit tutelage, but were expected to learn new ways of work overnight. The missionaries brought with them a paternalism born of cultural and religious chauvinism, and believed that what they brought to the indigenous neophytes benefited them. A passage in Palou?s account of the troubles at Todos Santos catches a sense of this paternalistic chauvinism.
The new settlers [Guaycuruan neophytes] have been so ungrateful for the good that has been done them in changing their fortunes that they have not been willing to settle down there, and only by threats to remain for a time, but more to destroy what the mission has than to advance it (Palou 1966: 1: 176).

Analysis

The aridity of much of the Baja California Peninsula forced the Jesuits to modify the mission program the Black Robes attempted to impose on the native peoples. One goal of the Jesuits was to congregate the natives in new communities, where the natives would support themselves through agriculture and ranching. This, however, was not possible in most of Baja California, and the Jesuits left a large part of the neophyte populations to live in satellite villages called visitas. The neophytes continued to support themselves through hunting and the collection of wild plant foods, and only visited the main mission village periodically to receive religious instruction.
What did the inability to congregate most of the Guaycuros to a single village mean in terms of the Jesuit program of social, cultural, and religious change? The majority of the Guaycuros, for example, lived in the visitas under minimal supervision from the Jesuits, and the Black Robes complained about the continuing influence of shaman, who challenged the Jesuits for the hearts and minds of the Guaycuros, and delayed the religious conversion of the natives. The fact that the Guaycuros continued to support themselves through hunting and collection also meant that the Jesuits were unable to introduce a new work regime among the natives based on sustained agricultural field work. This last fact would become important following the Jesuit expulsion, when Jose de Galvez ordered the relocation of the Guaycuros to Todos Santos, where the reformer anticipated that the Guaycuros would be put to work growing crops to not only supply their own food needs, but also to produce surpluses to help feed the neophytes at the other missions.
During their tenure on the Baja California Peninsula, the Jesuits imported food mostly from their missions in Sinaloa, Sonora, and the Tarahumara region of Nueva Vizcaya, mostly in the form of alms. The Jesuits colonized Baja California at their own expense, and relied on support from neighboring missions they staffed. The Black Robes stationed Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga, the two missions established among the Guaycuros, relied heavily on food imports. The situation changed in 1768, with the expulsion of the Jesuits.
King Carlos lll sent Jose de Galvez to Mexico in 1765, with extensive powers to reform, cut costs of government, and to increase royal revenue. Galvez supervised the removal of the Jesuits, and then spent time on the northern frontier to introduce reform. He spent time in Baja California, where he organized the expedition to colonize San Diego in Alta California. He also attempted to reorganize the missions to minimize the cost to the government of supporting the missions that now came under royal authority. Galvez shifted populations between missions in order to bring more labor to sites with agricultural potential. Galvez wanted to promote agriculture in the Peninsula so that the government would not have to carry the cost of importing food to the missions, as the Jesuits had done for decades.
Galvez ordered the closing of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga, two missions that he considered to be marginal because of the limited agriculture production at the two sites, and the relocation of the Guaycuros to Todos Santos. His plan to put the natives to work producing crops failed. The relocation to a new home and the use of force to put to Guaycuros backfired. The natives fled, or resisted in a variety of ways including the destruction of mission property. A delegation of Guaycuro leaders also went to Loreto, the capital of Baja California, to complain about their treatment at the hands of the resident Franciscan missionary, who used corporal punishment. Galvez eventually had to hire settlers to work the mission lands, which defeated the purpose of Galvez?s plan to shift populations between missions.
The expulsion of the Jesuits and particularly the movement of personnel to and through the Peninsula on the way to San Diego spread epidemics through the missions that decimated the neophyte populations. In 1768, the neophyte population of Todos Santos was small, and infected by syphilis. Galvez relocated some 700 Guaycuros to Todos Santos, yet within several years only a small percentage of the population survived. In 1771, 180 Guaycuros survived. Epidemics and the effects of syphilis greatly reduced the Guaycuros population during the fifty years following the Jesuit expulsion, and by 1821 the group was near the point of cultural and biological extinction.
The Jesuit policy towards the Guaycuros buffered the natives from the most adverse effects of Spanish colonization, except for the spread of Old World crowd diseases. One important aspect of Jesuit policy was the control of personnel from the mainland and the Peninsula. This changed following the expulsion of the Jesuits, and the arrival of Jose de Galvez with his plans for reform. The Guaycuros populations of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga declined during the Jesuit period, but depopulation accelerated following their expulsion, as a direct consequence of Galvez?s policies. The expulsion of the Jesuits proved to be disastrous for the Guaycuros.


















Table 1: Population of the Southern Baja California Missions, in Selected Years

Year Dolores
Del Sur
Santiago San Jose
Del Cabo Todos Santos San Luis Gonzaga
1730 946 500
1733 1040
1742 1000
1744 1000 449 516
1755 624 232 73 151 352
1762 573 198 63 93 300
1768 458 178 71 83 288
1771 70 50 170
1773 75 51 180
1774 72 50 155
1782 43 28 135
1786 36 143 159
1790 32 62 90
1791 23 62 90
1794 70 102 78
1795 84 80
1796 70 75
1797 77 80
1798 81 81
1799 78 74
1800 78 88
1801 77 80
1802 83 79
1803 88 87
1804 83 79
1806 92
1808 109 82
1813 107
Source: Robert H. Jackson, ?Demographic Change in the Missions of Southern Baja California,? Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 8:2 (1986), 273-279; Robert H. Jackson, Indian Population Decline: The Missions of Northwestern New Spain, 1687-1840 (Albuquerque, 1994), 167-168.










Bibliography

Baegert, S.J., Johann, Observations in Lower California. Trans. And ed. M. M. 1952. Brandenburg.
Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press.

Burrus, S.J.,ErnestJesuit Relations-Baja California.
1984.
Los Angeles, Dawson?s Bookshop.

Crosby, Harry, Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsula
1994. Frontier, 1697-1767.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Jackson, Robert H., ?Demographic Patterns in the Missions of Central Baja 1984. California.? Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology.
6: 91-112.

Jackson, Robert H., , ?Patterns of Demographic Change in the Missions of 1986. Southern Baja California.? Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology.
8:2 :273-279.

Palou, O.F.M., Francisco, Historical Memoirs of New California, 4 vols., trans. and 1966. ed. Herbert E. Bolton. New York: McMillan.








bajalera - 10-17-2003 at 03:57 PM

Nice jobe (as usual), but you might consider indenting the first line of paragraphs, which would make your stuff much more readable.

Mike Humfreville - 10-17-2003 at 08:18 PM

QUOTE: "missionaries brought with them a paternalism born of cultural and religious chauvinism, and believed that what they brought to the indigenous neophytes benefited them. A passage in Palou?s account of the troubles at Todos Santos catches a sense of this paternalistic chauvinism."

certainly rings true from everything I've read (limited) by Baegert, et al.

It seems to me that if we were going off to help someone else we should be disallowed from gaining therefrom, except from feelings of having done the right thing. A wealthy and haughty society may choose to look "down" on those that surpass them.

How about an article that gets specific re the punishments issued and "judgments" made against the neophytes, e.g., locking the women in a room void of furniture or toilet facilities overnight, every night, to prevent them from being with their men?

As previously, you have an interesting post. Mas por favor.

research

academicanarchist - 10-19-2003 at 06:11 AM

THe original paper does have indented paragraphs. The format gets all goofy when I cut and paste the text here. In terms of information on social control, I would suggest you look at my research posted on Tim Walker's web site, particularly the Chumash study, as well as my published books Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization and Indian Population Decline. The practice of incarcerating women at night in dormitories certainly was a factor in higher death rates among women. Those who take a pro-Church position and advocates for the Serra cause have not liked what I have written, because it does not support the rosey picture they would like to present of conditions in the missions.

Tim's Website

David K - 10-19-2003 at 09:03 AM

The URL to Tim's site (where Dr. Jackson's papers can be viewed) is http://www.timsbaja.com

Also it can be found in my web site in my Links to Great Baja Web Sites... then under Baja Home Pages.

then and now

Stephanie Jackter - 10-19-2003 at 12:45 PM

QUOTE: "missionaries brought with them a paternalism born of cultural and religious chauvinism, and believed that what they brought to the indigenous neophytes benefited them. A passage in Palou?s account of the troubles at Todos Santos catches a sense of this paternalistic chauvinism."

certainly rings true from everything I've read (limited) by Baegert, et al.

It seems to me that if we were going off to help someone else we should be disallowed from gaining therefrom, except from feelings of having done the right thing. A wealthy and haughty society may choose to look "down" on those that surpass them.

How about an article that gets specific re the punishments issued and "judgments" made against the neophytes, e.g., locking the women in a room void of furniture or toilet facilities overnight, every night, to prevent them from being with their men?

As previously, you have an interesting post. Mas por favor. (MIKE)

********************************
As I scrolled down to look at the replys, I found it interesting that the same paragraph that stood out for you, Mike, leaped out at me for pretty much the same reason. Cultural superiority sure can lead to some really inferior behaviors.

Where we may differ, though, is that I was thinking of all the colonization the U.S. has attempted, including the current barely managable situations in Iraq and [the now conveniently forgotten] Afghanistan.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. But instead of the church as the vectors of economic and cultural dessimation, we now have the army and multinationals to do the government's "humanitarian" dirty work. The only difference is that with adequate food supplies and the control of environmental scurges, the larger populations are even more difficult to control..

.....Very interesting article, Robert. I'll definitely check out what you've got on Tim's site.- Stephanie

bajalera - 10-23-2003 at 12:36 PM

So if you can format the original reasonably, why not here? If you can't manage indentation, how about adding a space between paragraphs?

Guaycuros/Pericues

academicanarchist - 10-24-2003 at 05:37 PM

Pericues were in the southern cape, the Guaycuros further north in the Magdalena Desert. Jose de Galvez ordered the Guaycuros moved to Todos Santos in 1768, into territory that was not originally theirs.

Caves

academicanarchist - 10-24-2003 at 05:40 PM

What is the approximate location of the cave(s) depicted in the photos, and in relation to which mission? Does your friend who has collected the artifacts maintained a recrod of where they were found?

Caves and Artifacts

Ski Baja - 10-29-2003 at 02:00 PM

I will be leaving for back down there to deliver goods and do some more exploring in some different areas in about three weeks. If you would care to accompany me and pay all expenses plus, I might consider sharing that information. But until I am done seeing what they want to show me and have told me about, I would prefer not to be met at any of these places by anyone that doesn't live there.

There are not any known direct descendants of the Pericues

Family Guy - 10-29-2003 at 07:24 PM

Quote:

At the time of the Spanish incursion in the Baja, there were three very well defined Indian tribes living there. The extreme south was inhabited by the Pericues, the middle lower peninsula was inhabited by the Guaycuras, and the north by the Cochimies. Estimates of population vary , however 50,000 seems to be the most accepted. It has been established that the northern Indians (Cochimies) came from the north , however the other two groups were not anthropologically speaking similar to either continental or northern Indians. These two groups are however similar to Pacific island inhabitants, leading some experts to speculate, that their ancestors came from a Pacific island center. There are not any known direct descendants of the Pericues or Guaycuras alive


The above information was taken from Pablo Martinez's book A History of Lower California. It is not a direct quote. I have read the same information elsewhere.

If these people are correct, you may be rewriting baja history!

Happy travels. Baseballs on their way. Do I envision a future Pericuen All-Star??


[Edited on 10-30-2003 by Family Guy]

Family Guy - 10-29-2003 at 07:40 PM

Lyman Belding (1829-1918) was a self-educated ornithologist who lived in Alta California (Van der Pas 1977). In late 1882 and early 1883, he traveled in southern Baja California. During part of his trip he accompanied the Dutch anthropologist Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate, who subsequently published more extensively on his archaeological and physical anthropological findings (Kate 1883a, 1883b, 1884). The following brief article, which discusses the physical characteristics and burial practices of the aboriginal people of the Cape Region, appeared in "The West-American Scientist," a journal published in San Diego, in 1885. The information enclosed in brackets has been added by the editor. -- Don Laylander



The Pericue Indians

by L. Belding

Probably these Indians were never numerous though the Victoria mountains would have supported a large population.

Father Baegut [Baegert] says there were 4,000 Indians in the southern part of the peninsula of Lower California when the missions of Santiago and San Jose del Cabo were destroyed by them in the year 1734, but that they numbered only 400 in 1772 (Chas. Rau, Sm. Rp. 1864 p 384).

It was a prime object with my companion Dr. H. Ten Kate, of the society of anthropology of Paris, and myself as well, to find a living representative of the original Lower Californian, which we probably found on the Rancho San Jacinto, owned by the Vallerino family. But we could get no positive or definitive information concerning this Indian woman, who must have been about seventy-five years old, although from La Paz to Cape San Lucas she was universally reputed to be a pure blooded Indian. She differed widely from the Yaquis and other Indians from the east side of the Gulf, being of good stature, robust form and dark complexion, with a cranium which resembled those found in the caves.

Dr. H. Ten Kate offered to photograph the hacienda and its occupants, hoping by this means to get her photograph, but his diplomacy failed, although backed by our distinguished guide, Don Juan Dios Angoula, who had long been a friend of the family.

We saw three of her children who were good examples of the [/ p. 22] better class of Mexicans, their father having been a Mexican or Spaniard. This woman is probably the only living pure blooded native south of 24 degrees 30 minutes.

The Indians of Lower California south of 24 degrees 30 minutes buried their dead in caves below shelving rocks, without regard to the points of the compass, usually painting the bones, but how they made the bones clean and ready to be painted is still unknown. At Zorillo we were shown a small cave in a granite rock by our local guide, who said that an Italian collector, several years before, had found bones of a "gentile," the Mexican name for an Indian or heathen.

The sand in the cave was dry, coarse disintegrated granite, about a foot deep. By digging in it I found the well preserved skeleton of an adult male Indian, who was perhaps the last of the Pericues. This skeleton was wrapped in cloth made from the bark of the palm and bound with three ply cord which had been plaited as sailors make sennit, the material being fiber of the agave. Dr. W. H. Dall mentions in the Smithsonian contributions to knowledge, number 318, that the mummies of the Aleutian Islands, were bound with cord quite similarly braided in square sennit.

The package, which was about twenty inches long, did not appear to have been disturbed since burial, although a femur and some small bones were missing, and nearly all of the bones had been unjointed. The bones of the hand were inside of the skull, which was full of small bones and sand. Meanwhile Dr. Ten Kate found the skeleton of a girl about twelve years old. This was also in excellent condition, although differing from those found elsewhere, in not having been painted, a rare exception. For the skeletons found by Dr. Ten Kate on Espiritu Santo Island, at Encenada and Los Martires, which he kindly allowed me to inspect, had all been painted the usual brick red, with the exception of one the Doctor found at Los Martires which had a skull of very inferior, almost idiotic form.

The few bones we afterwards found in a cave near Candelario and several skeletons found at San Pedro by Dr. H. Ten Kate had also been painted. All of the skulls were of one general form, namely, the pyramidal -- high, long narrow, with wide, prominent cheek bones.

The only ornaments, or other objects of aboriginal handiwork found with the skeletons, were two small, neatly worked, pearl oyster shells, which were in the package of the bones of the young girl found at Zorillo. These shells had been polished on the convex side, the edges finely serrated and pierced at the apex as if to be suspended about the person for ornament.

Locations of Caves

academicanarchist - 10-29-2003 at 08:00 PM

Ski. I do not intend to intrude on your cave exploration, and am really mystified by your response. I simply asked for the approximate located in relation to the missions in the region, and specifically asked for the approximate location because I suspected you would be reluctant to reveal the exact location. Are the caves in the mission district of Santiago, etc.

Packoderm - 10-29-2003 at 08:02 PM

Mavbe you can consider me something of an understudy. I hope nobody minds that I did this. I think I did it correctly.



The Guaycurosa, Jesuit Missionaries, and Jose de Galvez: The Failure of Spanish Policy in Baja California

In 1697, a band of Jesuits and soldiers arrived at a site called Concho, and established Nuestra Senora de Loreto mission. In the weeks following the founding of the mission the local natives attacked the small outpost, but failed to dislodge the incipient colony. The Spanish Crown had funded an aborted colony in the arid Baja California Peninsula in the mid-1680s, but then had decided to no longer attempt to colonize the Peninsula. Jesuit Juan Maria Salvatierra petitioned the royal government for permission for the Jesuits to establish missions at their own expense, which was granted. Over the next two decades the Jesuits established more missions in Baja California, and consolidated their presence in the districts surrounding Loreto.

In 1720, the Jesuits expanded south into the Magdalena Desert and the Cape Region that surrounds La Paz, the site of an aborted colony established in the 1530s by Hernan Cortes. The term Guaycuros designates a linguistic group that inhabited the arid Magdalena Desert that stretches between Loreto on the north and La Paz on the south. The Guaycuros were nomadic hunters and gatherers who lived in bands of related families, and generally occupied a clearly defined territory within which they collected food. The Jesuits generally denigrated the Guaycura for their dietary habits (Baegert 1952).

In the 1720s and 1730s, the Jesuits established six missions among the native peoples of the southern Cape region and the Magdalena Desert region. In the far south of the Peninsula the Jesuits encountered a relatively wetter climate that supported agriculture, including more specialized crops such as sugar cane. Moreover, with the establishment of San Jose del Cabo mission in 1730, there was a strategically located settlement that could supply fresh water and provisions to the Manila Galleon that coasted Baja California on its return voyage from Manila to Acapulco on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The colonial government had pressed the Jesuits for several decades to find a safe port for the Galleon to stop on the long voyage from Manila to Acapulco. The strongest resistance to the new colonial order occurred in the south with uprisings in October of 1734 and again in the early 1740s. Rebels in 1734 killed Jesuit missionaries Lorenzo Carranco and Nicolas Tamaral, and also ambushed the second galleon to stop at San Jose del Cabo. (Burrus 1984: 104-109). The Jesuits attributed the resistance of the natives to their capricious nature, and to the presence of natives of mixed European-indigenous ancestry, the progeny of pearly fishermen and corsairs who had coasted the pearl beds off of the Peninsula for decades.

In 1721, missionary Clemente Guillen, S.J., established a mission known as Dolores del Sur at a site roughly half way between Loreto and La Paz among the Guaicuros. Guillen had been stationed at San Juan Bautista mission, established a short distance south of Loreto in 1705. The site chosen for the mission initially had a large indigenous population but little water for agriculture. By 1721, few neophytes still lived at the mission (Jackson, 1984). Moreover, hostile natives from several neighboring Islands raided the mission (Burrus 1984: 89-92).. Guillen moved the indigenous population of San Juan Bautista south to the site of the new mission described as having lands that could be irrigated from nine springs (Crosby 1994: 104-108).

The Jesuits formally established a second mission in the territory of the Guaycuros named San Luis Gonzaga, in 1737 at a site called Chiriyaki, near Dolores del Sur mission (Burrus 1984: 240-244). However, shortages of Jesuit personnel delayed the arrival of the first permanent resident missionary until the early 1740s. In late 1743, visitador general Juan Antonio Balthasar reported that San Luis was being established on a more permanent basis (Burrus 1984: 206-208). It should also be noted that in the 1730s several Jesuits who spent time at San Miguel visita of Comondu mission congregated and baptized several dozen Guaycuros. One of the Jesuits was William Gordon, who left La Paz following the outbreak of the 1734 rebellion (Jackson 1984: 99-101).

The goal of the missionaries was to create stable and politically autonomous indigenous communities on the model of the pueblos reales of central Mexico. In addition to conversion to Catholicism, the missionaries were to transform the natives into sedentary farmers, ranchers, and craft industrial producers who would participate in the new colonial order as providers of labor to the government and Spanish entrepreneurs and payers of tribute. However, in much of Baja California the Jesuits had to modify the basic elements of the mission program of social-cultural change. Although the Black Robes imported food into the Peninsula from Sinaloa and Sonora, local production and imports generally did not supply the basic food needs of the neophytes. Therefore, the Jesuits had to allow numbers of natives to continue to live in their traditional settlements euphemistically called visitas, or satellite communities. This was the case in the two missions established among the Guaycuros.

The basis of the mission economies generally was Mediterranean-style agriculture, producing wheat, corn, some barley, and small quantities of fruits and vegetables. The missionaries at Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga had some crops grown on small and irrigated plots of land, but did not produce enough to feed the neophytes (Burrus 1984: 208). Hundreds of Guaycuros lived under minimal supervision from the Jesuits, and continued to live pretty much the way they had prior to the arrival of the Black Robes. Most importantly, the Guaycuros experience minimal change in the organization of labor and time, and did not work in sustained agricultural labor at the two missions. The Jesuits also complained about the continued influence of hechizeros or shaman, and the persistence of traditional religious practices.

In 1768, King Carlos lll ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and its dominions, and in Baja California visitador general Jose de Galvez supervised the expulsion and a reorganization of the Peninsula mission system that now came under direct royal authority. One initiative Galvez implemented was to shift native populations to missions with greater agricultural potential, to ensure labor at those sites with the potential to produce larger crops and thus reduce the cost of importing food into the Peninsula. One mission that Galvez targeted was Todos Santos, established as a mission in 1733. The final mission, Todos Santos, first developed as a satellite village of La Paz mission, established because of the availability of water and arable land. The neophytes settled at Todos Santos produced wheat, corn, rice, and sugar (Burrus 1984: 206-208). In 1733, the Jesuit Sigismundo Taraval established an independent mission at Todos Santos named Santa Rosa. Taraval was to direct the continued development of agriculture at Todos Santos (Crosby 1994: 113). Taraval survived the uprising in the year following the establishment of the mission, and wrote the most detailed account of the uprising and its suppression. In 1749, the Jesuits formally combined La Paz and Santa Rosa missions under the rubric of Nuestra Senora del Pilar, the name of La Paz mission, but the establishment was more commonly called Todos Santos.

Todos Santos produced a variety of crops, and was important in Jesuit plans for the continued colonization of the Peninsula. In addition to corn and wheat, the missionaries directed the planting of sugar cane and rice (Burrus 1984: 208). As noted above, operations at the mission included a sugar mill and distillery. Most of the data on agricultural production are from the years following the Jesuit expulsion, and reflect greatly diminished populations and hence small labor forces and less demand for agriculture. But immediately following the Jesuit expulsion, Galvez viewed Todos Santos as one of the missions in Baja California with considerable potential.

The Jesuits stationed in the six southern missions baptized thousands of indigenous peoples. However, disease and rebellion rapidly decimated the neophyte population. The 1734-1737 rebellion resulted in many deaths, and troops were sent from Sinaloa and rapidly spread venereal disease as they had sexual relations with native women. In the aftermath of the uprising epidemics killed hundreds of neophytes. For example, an outbreak in the fall of 1743 killed more than 500 natives at Santiago mission, and the population dropped from some 1,000 to 449 in 1744 following the epidemic. The population of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga totaled 1,000 and 516 respectively in 1744, but this number dropped to 458 and 288 twenty-four years later in 1768. The population of Todos Santos was some 500 in 1730, and a mere 83 in 1768 (see Table 1).

Galvez tried to promote agriculture at Todos Santos by relocating more than 700 Guaycuros from Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga to Todos Santos. Galvez ordered the suppression of Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga; and moved the neophytes from those two missions to Todos Santos. The surviving neophytes from Todos Santos went to Santiago mission. Many of the neophytes at Santiago had syphilis, and a surgeon was sent to treat the ill at the mission and those transferred from Todos Santos. At the time doctors treated syphilis with mercury pills, which was as bad as the disease being treated. Galvez had 44 people from San Francisco Xavier moved to San Jose del Cabo. As a result of Galvez?s changes, Todos Santos had a population of 746 Guaycurans, the population of Santiago increased to about 261, and 115 now lived at San Jose del Cabo.

From the perspective of the Crown interested in trying to reduce expenses in Mexico and increase revenue the movement of natives between missions made sense, but his plan backfired because the neophytes could not be transformed into a disciplined labor force in a short period of time. Moreover, a measles epidemic in 1769 decimated the population, and many of the Guaycuros fled Todos Santos. In response to the failure his plan to put the Guaycuros to work farming, Galvez ordered the hiring of an overseer and agricultural workers (Jackson 1986).

In the fourteen years following the redistribution of population a series of epidemics swept through Baja California, culminating with a smallpox outbreak in 1781 to 1782. Some 1,122 lived at three missions following the redistribution of population, but the first epidemic, measles in 1769, killed hundreds. In 1771, only 290 survived. At the end of the 1781 to 1782 smallpox outbreak the population of the three missions further declined to 206 (see Table 1). In 1795, the government ordered the suppression of Santiago mission, and the removal of the neophytes to San Jose del Cabo (Jackson 1986:275). In 1808, the population of the last two missions, Todos Santos and San Jose del Cabo, had stabilized at 191.

The Guaycuros resisted the forced relocation and change in lifestyle, and particularly the introduction of a new economy based upon sustained agricultural labor. The natives of southern Baja California had already proven their willingness to resist the new colonial order in several major uprisings. The devastating epidemics of the 1740s most likely profoundly broke the faith of the indigenous population in their own belief system that could not explain the new and horrible diseases that the Jesuits clearly understood. Traditional shaman offered little to alleviate the suffering of the neophytes. The Guaycuruan population of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga certainly experienced the effects of epidemics, but not to the degree as in the missions further south.
Galvez?s relocation of the Guaycuruan to Todos Santos initiated a prolonged crisis that resulted from a major miscalculation on the part of the colonial bureaucrat. Galvez wanted the Guaycuruans to be converted into a labor force overnight, and the neophytes resisted. Francisco Palou, O.F.M., noted that:

The Guaicuros Indians had never settled down in their native missions of La Pasion [Dolores] and San Luis, but lived in the mountains like deer, supporting themselves on wild foods, and attending Mass at the mission when it was the turn of their Village?The visitor [Jose de Galvez] moved all these villages to Todos Santos to live in a settlement. As they were accustomed to live in the woods, it semed hard to them, and they immediately began to run away (Palou 1966: 1: 143).

The Guaycuros fled Todos Santos, and engaged in the theft or destruction of mission property. The Franciscans responded with the use of corporal punishment, an action that backfired. In 1770, a delegation of neophyte leaders from Todos Santos went to Loreto to complain about mistreatment at the hands of the overseer, and shortages of food (Jackson 1986: 276).

Galvez?s policy initiative, while it responded to the pragmatic needs of the Crown, completely misunderstood the realities of the limited social and cultural change the Guaycuros had experienced at Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga missions under the Jesuits. The neophytes had not been converted into a disciplined labor force over three decades under Jesuit tutelage, but were expected to learn new ways of work overnight. The missionaries brought with them a paternalism born of cultural and religious chauvinism, and believed that what they brought to the indigenous neophytes benefited them. A passage in Palou?s account of the troubles at Todos Santos catches a sense of this paternalistic chauvinism.

The new settlers [Guaycuruan neophytes] have been so ungrateful for the good that has been done them in changing their fortunes that they have not been willing to settle down there, and only by threats to remain for a time, but more to destroy what the mission has than to advance it (Palou 1966: 1: 176).

Analysis

The aridity of much of the Baja California Peninsula forced the Jesuits to modify the mission program the Black Robes attempted to impose on the native peoples. One goal of the Jesuits was to congregate the natives in new communities, where the natives would support themselves through agriculture and ranching. This, however, was not possible in most of Baja California, and the Jesuits left a large part of the neophyte populations to live in satellite villages called visitas. The neophytes continued to support themselves through hunting and the collection of wild plant foods, and only visited the main mission village periodically to receive religious instruction.

What did the inability to congregate most of the Guaycuros to a single village mean in terms of the Jesuit program of social, cultural, and religious change? The majority of the Guaycuros, for example, lived in the visitas under minimal supervision from the Jesuits, and the Black Robes complained about the continuing influence of shaman, who challenged the Jesuits for the hearts and minds of the Guaycuros, and delayed the religious conversion of the natives. The fact that the Guaycuros continued to support themselves through hunting and collection also meant that the Jesuits were unable to introduce a new work regime among the natives based on sustained agricultural field work. This last fact would become important following the Jesuit expulsion, when Jose de Galvez ordered the relocation of the Guaycuros to Todos Santos, where the reformer anticipated that the Guaycuros would be put to work growing crops to not only supply their own food needs, but also to produce surpluses to help feed the neophytes at the other missions.

During their tenure on the Baja California Peninsula, the Jesuits imported food mostly from their missions in Sinaloa, Sonora, and the Tarahumara region of Nueva Vizcaya, mostly in the form of alms. The Jesuits colonized Baja California at their own expense, and relied on support from neighboring missions they staffed. The Black Robes stationed Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga, the two missions established among the Guaycuros, relied heavily on food imports. The situation changed in 1768, with the expulsion of the Jesuits.

King Carlos lll sent Jose de Galvez to Mexico in 1765, with extensive powers to reform, cut costs of government, and to increase royal revenue. Galvez supervised the removal of the Jesuits, and then spent time on the northern frontier to introduce reform. He spent time in Baja California, where he organized the expedition to colonize San Diego in Alta California. He also attempted to reorganize the missions to minimize the cost to the government of supporting the missions that now came under royal authority. Galvez shifted populations between missions in order to bring more labor to sites with agricultural potential. Galvez wanted to promote agriculture in the Peninsula so that the government would not have to carry the cost of importing food to the missions, as the Jesuits had done for decades.
Galvez ordered the closing of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga, two missions that he considered to be marginal because of the limited agriculture production at the two sites, and the relocation of the Guaycuros to Todos Santos. His plan to put the natives to work producing crops failed. The relocation to a new home and the use of force to put to Guaycuros backfired. The natives fled, or resisted in a variety of ways including the destruction of mission property. A delegation of Guaycuro leaders also went to Loreto, the capital of Baja California, to complain about their treatment at the hands of the resident Franciscan missionary, who used corporal punishment. Galvez eventually had to hire settlers to work the mission lands, which defeated the purpose of Galvez?s plan to shift populations between missions.

The expulsion of the Jesuits and particularly the movement of personnel to and through the Peninsula on the way to San Diego spread epidemics through the missions that decimated the neophyte populations. In 1768, the neophyte population of Todos Santos was small, and infected by syphilis. Galvez relocated some 700 Guaycuros to Todos Santos, yet within several years only a small percentage of the population survived. In 1771, 180 Guaycuros survived. Epidemics and the effects of syphilis greatly reduced the Guaycuros population during the fifty years following the Jesuit expulsion, and by 1821 the group was near the point of cultural and biological extinction.

The Jesuit policy towards the Guaycuros buffered the natives from the most adverse effects of Spanish colonization, except for the spread of Old World crowd diseases. One important aspect of Jesuit policy was the control of personnel from the mainland and the Peninsula. This changed following the expulsion of the Jesuits, and the arrival of Jose de Galvez with his plans for reform. The Guaycuros populations of Dolores del Sur and San Luis Gonzaga declined during the Jesuit period, but depopulation accelerated following their expulsion, as a direct consequence of Galvez?s policies. The expulsion of the Jesuits proved to be disastrous for the Guaycuros.

[Edited on 10-30-2003 by Packoderm]

Response to Ski Baja

academicanarchist - 10-29-2003 at 08:38 PM

On mulling over your last post, I have to conclude that you are way out of line with your comments. This forum is interesting, because people share information. Both you and I have done that, along with many others (thanks to Sr. Elefante for editing my Guaycuros paper). SInce we were discussing the native peoples of the southern Cape, I though it would be useful to get only an APPROXIMATE location of the caves you provided nice photos of, in relation to the mission sites being discussed and the native groups in the region.

You, for some reason I don;t understand, interpreted this as being an effort on my part to intrude on your cave explorations. You are out of line on this assumption. Cave sites are fragile lenses on native cultures long gone, and need to be treated carefully. If artifacts are taken out, the provenance of each artifact must be noted, otherwise the removal of artifacts is nothing more than plundering of cultural resources. I wonder if this part of my message elicited your response? The way that the artifacts have been hung in a collage suggests that they have been simply removed with little care to preserving a record of the place of origin.

Your post contains a level of disrespect, which I personally find unacceptable.

My last post

Ski Baja - 10-29-2003 at 09:15 PM

I deleted my last post because a picture didn't come out on it. And speaking of pictures, that is what I intend to take before some scientist or other so called professional goes and digs it all up.
Not only have I explained how important these finds could be for them if it is not disturbed but I also got them to pick up the Budweiser cans from the last
visitors to that area. And I didn't see a lot of that for sale in the stores down there.
Forgive me if I seem a little rude but I personally feel that pictures are a pretty good idea before the fences get put up and there's a bunch of "Professionals " poking around. Especially ones that aren't Mexican.
I have been given presents of some things which will be in an exhibition down there. They are not for sale. And the people with the post and artifacts, they didn't know any better and actually, it was quite a prize for them. Part of their history if you catch my drift. Which is why my gifts will be returned and put on display when the time is right.
As I said in the post I deleted, I will probably be ready to share locations on my return from the next trip. They are interested in promoting tourism down there and I have been working on that with them. Bud cans suck when you are out in the wilds but bikers are bikers.
If you have some Guaycura or Pericue blood in you, I would be glad to share the locations. Otherwise, I hope you continue to enjoy the photos.

David K - 10-29-2003 at 11:59 PM

J.R., let me step in here just to 'introduce' you to 'academicanarchist'. He is Dr. Robert Jackson, a Southwest historian and published author. He is in Texas, but has traveled to Southern California twice in the past year to meet with me and assist with my quest to publish the last Baja book authored by the late, wonderful Choral Pepper.

Dr. Jackson has donated much time in editing and supplementing the Pepper manuscript, which I greatly appreciate. His own book, 'Mission Indian Decline' covers (in detail) how European influences about wiped out the entire population of Baja's natives.

Fear not his intentions... he would not want the exact location published, either. For purposes of general curiosity, I think it is safe to say which nearby mission these natives were influenced by. If Dr. Jackson reads your trip reports, you mention and have photos of one mission primarily... so that would be my guess.

Dr. Jackson's photo (with me) is in the Viva Baja 4 pictures, as he and several other Baja authors attended that get-together. http://davidksbaja.com/vivabaja4/page5.html

[Edited on 10-30-2003 by David K]

If we could see our posts the way others do...

Mike Humfreville - 10-30-2003 at 12:58 AM

This thread has major contributions from major contributors and yet you choose to pick each other apart. At the risk of peeing you all off I'll say this. One of you has a very academic aire and a wealth of heavy history that we can all learn from, information that gives us insight and provokes questions into moments that lurk in the shadows of the limited knowledge most of us have learned of Baja California. We long for more.

Another of us has immediate experiences of living in Baja California and contrasting the happenings on the two sides of the border, California and Baja California (norte) and siding for reasons whatever with the side to the south at the cost of rejecting the audience from his (her?) parent country.

A third has a need to present an omnipresence and God only knows why. We love you any way we can get you.

How is it we cannot somehow see the image we present when we constantly find ways to disagree?

David, you have no need to defend your friend when he has history to offer.

J.R., Sometimes you take a very negative position with respect to issues you are passionate about and that can provoke others into negative responses without your intending to.

Bob, Thanks for your HEAVY research. We can all learn from it.

Reminder to self: Who the hell do you think you are to offer up all this assinine advice?

DOH!

Make new friends and keeep thee oold.......

Stephanie Jackter - 10-30-2003 at 01:16 AM

Ahhh.... Sometimes this board is a real hoot!... With all the mud slingin' I've seen in the past 24 hours (not just this thread by any means), it makes me wonder why in the world I printed that retraction when I at least seemed to be tickin'' all the right people off.

Even though some poop occasionally flies, I just love the free speech component of this board and feel totally indebted to Doug for setting it up so that I can read a lot of stimulating stuff on a regular basis.

Think I'll go dutifully click a couple of adds before I tuck it in....Stephanie
javascript :icon(':P')

Issues

academicanarchist - 10-30-2003 at 06:28 AM

I think my position is very clear, and I would never tell anybody not to post what they believe. David and I have discussed many times the need to protect historic sites in Baja, that are not protected, and as I stated earlier I have no intention of going to ravage the caves that SKIBAJA is examining. My only concern is Ski's response to a question that I asked within the context we have been having of the native peoples of the Cape region. There was no need to respond the way he did to my question.

If SKI works to protect the sites and insure that the artifacts are preserved, then kudos to him. My comment about the artifacts and the plundering of the caves was not directed to him, but rather to the people who are creating collages from these precious artifacts.

One final comment. When archaeologists excavate a site, they first document it photographically. One thing that they do is to identify the stratigraphy of the site, which is important for establishing the age of the artifacts.

Population Estimates

academicanarchist - 10-30-2003 at 06:49 AM

Scholars really do not know how many natives lived in Baja California when the Spanish first arrived. There have been acrimonious debates over the size of native populations at contact, tied into the "black" vs the "white" legends. In other words, did Spanish/European colonization benefit or not benefit the native populations.

Estimators of contact population sizes bring biases and perspectives to their guesses. Some tend to see large native populations, and others not so large populations. The 50,000 range of population for Baja came from a 1937 article by Sherburne Cook, who was a professor at Berkeley who spent decades with historian Wodrow Borah trying to arrive at educated guesses of population sizes. Cook and Borah tended to estimate in the high range.

I do not believe that there were as many as 50,000 natives in Baja California, although the Cape region was clearly the most populous part of the Peninsula along with the region from Rosario to the border and the interior mountains where there are oak trees. The early mission censuses along with baptismal registers give us a better idea of how many people were in the Peninsula in the early mission period.

Here are some of the earliest population figures for the souther missions: San Jose del Cabo 946 in 1730 and 1,040 in 1733; Todos Santos 500 in 1730; Santiago 1,000 in 1742; Dolores del Sur 1,000 in 1744; San Luis Gonzaga 516 in 1744.







Where would you guesstimate the total, Ac?

Stephanie Jackter - 10-30-2003 at 12:10 PM

Guestimate of population

academicanarchist - 10-30-2003 at 04:16 PM

I would say in the range of 30,000-40,000, but I stopped trying to guess these population sizes years ago. The surviving records for the Baja California missions are rich enough to provide a good picture of demographic patterns.

Indigenous Population

Mike Humfreville - 10-30-2003 at 04:35 PM

I'm certain you have heard about/read this book. I can't remember the name. I borrowed it from the main branch of the Los Angeles County Library about 5 years ago. An appendix gave an inventory of each mission for the years the source had received an accounting (most years in the 1700's and 1800's). The inventory included pigs, chickens, mules/horses, goats, Eurpoeans and Indians if I remember correctly.

Were all the natives neophytes?

Family Guy - 10-30-2003 at 06:51 PM

The mission history tells us how many indigenous were members of the mission. The real question, however, is how many indigenous were not members of the various missions, if any?

How Many Indians?

academicanarchist - 10-30-2003 at 08:17 PM

By the late 1760s, there were no Indians living permanently outside of the missions, although there were numbers of fugitives eventually brought back.

Books with data on livestock and crops

academicanarchist - 10-30-2003 at 08:33 PM

Three books come to mind that have previously published data on numbers of livestock and agricultural production. They would be Zephyrin Engelhardt's book on the missions of Lower California. The second edition (1929) is more complete. The Seceond would be Peveril Meigs's 1935 book on the Dominican Mission Frontier, published, I would add, by U.C. Press. The third would be Homer Aschmann's 1959 monograph on the missions of the Central Desert.

From the 1770s until the 1830s, the missionaries prepared annual reports of all activities in the missions, including building construction, crop production, numbers of livestock, etc. One thing about the Spanish government, was that it was anal in terms of paperwork. The governor kept one set of reports, the father president a second, and a third set went to Mexico City. The father president also prepared a summary of vital rates, crop production, and numbers of livestock. Most of the reports survive for the California missions, and a handful for the Baja California missions. They are split between an archive in Mexico City (1770-1798) and the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library.

In the 1880s, H.E. Bancroft sent his team to extract data from a set of reports housed in San Francisco, what had been the California governor's archive. They created tables for the California and Baja California missions, that are preserved today in the Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley. The location of the original documents in San Francisco is significant, because sadly they went up in smoke in 1906.

One of my manuscripts at Tim's web site contains the available data on livestock and grain production at the Baja California missions, which is limited. I have also collected and published some of the data on California mission agriculture and livestock. I have been contacted by a press to put together a volume with statistics from the Baja California and California missions.

Preserving Historic Sites

Ski Baja - 10-31-2003 at 12:52 PM

It's very comforting to know that you and David have taken it upon yourselves to preserve the historic sites of Baja, Mexico.

I don't go to these sites unescorted and as well as most of the Mexican's learning about not littering, they are also realizing the importance of preserving their history.
I am flattered by their willingness to share it with me when they have not with others. Probably my messed up political and national views I suppose. There are after all, people that think the same way as I do. Just very few on the north side of that ridiculous border.
They are also aware of what happens when "agencies" step in. They are not looking for that kind of tourism. I suppose it would be rather hard to change a 200 year old lifestyle so that "scientists" can appease their own interests.
I, as well take offense at someone's assumption that they are the only ones qualified to perform certain tasks. Especially when the people that live in at least the same country don't want things disturbed, or the performing of any of these tasks. In other words, they like it the way it is.
I understand some of your feelings on the "collage" and I really don't know how long it has been like that. I didn't really think it was any of my business. What I do know is that they are not disturbing things anymore unless you consider picking up arrowheads a major problem. And in which case, where would you have these wonderful people relocated to while "Scientists" poke around for these arrowheads in a professional manner?
I was warned about sharing history on these boards and I see it was a mistake. It won't happen again.
And by the way AA, I truly enjoy your information and a good portion of your posts as well. Thank you.

Sharing History

academicanarchist - 11-1-2003 at 06:56 AM

There is nothing wrong with sharing history on the board. It raises awareness for the need to preserve historic sites, and visitors will have more information and hopefully more of a respect for not distrubing fragile sites, be they caves, mission ruins, etc. David, Tim Walker, and others including me have shared photos and information for some time, to benefit others who visit the web sites or forums.

Arrow Heads

academicanarchist - 11-1-2003 at 06:58 AM

One more thought. I really don't understand your ambivalence towards "professionals." Mexican scholars recognize the importance of their history. The reality, however, is that Mexico does not have the resources that the United States has to fund research on all sites. Artifacts such as arrow heads only have value when placed within the context of a site, which is why I would say that picking up artifacts is problematic unless the site the artifact came from is carefully documented.

Resources

Ski Baja - 11-7-2003 at 10:00 AM

Because the U.S. obviously has more resources ($$) than most other countries, they should be entitled to go where they want and do as they please? Oh wait, they already do.
Perhaps you should just get George Dubya to state that these "Puntas" are really weapons of mass destruction and then yall can take over this country too.
And it's nothing personal about the "Professionals". But as long as they are Americans, shouldn't they be digging in their own yards? Or have those valueless arrowheads all disappeared up there?
I notice the presents I received are worth quite a lot of $$ on the internet. They are going on display down south when the time is right. Not for sale or even evaluation. (Some say they make them just before I get there!) They belong to the people that probably had relatives involved with either the making or the shooting of these Puntas. It was very nice of them to share them with me but I know where they belong.

Professionals

academicanarchist - 11-9-2003 at 06:27 AM

The professionals who should excavate the cave sites should come from INAH, not UCLA. I am apalled at the sale of cultural artifacts on Ebay or similar venues that have been taken from other countries.

Excavations

Ski Baja - 11-9-2003 at 09:38 AM

Well, we certainly agree on that then. On the other hand, many of the locals don't want any digging done period. Something to do with respect.

bajalera - 11-19-2003 at 11:16 AM

Academic:

A few yards back, you expressed puzzlement that someone would feel you were intruding on his comments.

It seems to me that the reverse is true, that you seem to regard other posters as intruders into the Historic Interests section (which currently looks like the Robert Jackson web site).

A month or so ago, Ski Baja posted some interesting stuff, and you replied with an erudite commentary that was really quite irrelevant to his post.

I recently posted some material on the Pericu, and you replied with info you apparently feel I need to know. I definitely get the feeling that posting anything in the History section will bring on an attack of Yes-I-Can-Top-That from the guardian of this territory.

bajalera




[Edited on 11-29-2003 by bajalera]

Response

academicanarchist - 11-19-2003 at 04:38 PM

Bajalera. The purpose of the forum is to exchange information and ideas. You presented information, and I responded to your posting. As I recall, I did not insult you, make any personal comments about you, or anything like that. I expressed my views, and asked you to post additional information. I am sorry if you have a problem with that, but I will continue to post my views and I will encourage you to do the same. If you think I am wrong in my facts, then explain why.

And rather than argue

Ski Baja - 11-20-2003 at 01:22 AM

I have decided to hit those cuevas with #1, a lawn blower. #2. a metal detector. #3. 12 cans of spray paint. And last but not least, #4. A case of Old English 800 cans to leave along the trail so the scientists can find their way back to the emptiness I will leave them.:lol:
I think we should all stop argueing and work out something we mutually agree on. Like say, this years Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I bet even we can't argue about that!
There now, I just proved what a Barney I really am. See ya in 3 or 4 weeks.

Only full beer cans

academicanarchist - 11-20-2003 at 06:50 AM

Ski. Only full beer cans are allowed.

guaycura

bajalera - 11-21-2003 at 12:42 PM

Packoderm, I missed this post when it was still fresh, but think you did it correctly, too.

Your last post

academicanarchist - 11-21-2003 at 06:02 PM

Bajalera. Your last post does not make sense?

bajalera - 11-26-2003 at 12:10 AM

Packoderm's Post

Finally something we agree on, AA--that last post was mystic, if not downright stupid.

I was referring to a 10/30 contribution by Packoderm, which he prefaced by saying he might be regarded as something of
an understudy, that he hoped no one would mind his contribution, but he thought he had done it correctly.

I thought it was not only done correctly but was also interesting. And the modesty was certainly refreshing.

Carry on, Pack!

Speedy Gonzalez - 5-9-2004 at 01:42 PM
Quote:

bajalera: ...I definitely get the feeling that posting anything in the History section will bring on an attack of Yes-I-Can-Top-That from the guardian of this territory...


I don't think that they try to top what others are writing, they just try to inform... I personally prefer (scientific) postings from academicanarchist than postings called "Real Baja History" from Ski Baja that are fairytales and have nothing to do with real Baja California history. I appreciate that Ski Baja likes my country but sorry... he seems rather naive to me in his way of interpreting history.
Quote:

Ski Baja: It's very comforting to know that you and David have taken it upon yourselves to preserve the historic sites of Baja, Mexico.


... but it is not very comforting to know that you are trying to play the little explorer and "preserve" historic sites in Baja California. :rolleyes:

(By the way... as you like to "play" the Mexican you should start by calling my peninsula Baja California and not just Baja. Or should I refer to Alta in a future, when I talk about US-California?)