On the afternoon of September 14, 1786, two French ships appeared off the coast of Monterey, the first foreign vessels to visit Spain's California colonies. Aboard was a party of eminent scientists, navigators, cartographers, illustrators, and physicians. For the next ten days the commander of this expedition, Jean François de La Pérouse, took detailed notes on the life and character of the area: its abundant wildlife, the labors of soldiers and monks, and the customs of Indians recently drawn into the mission. These observations provide a startling portrait of California two centuries ago.

Describes the daily life of people who settled in the California missions, and why the missions were built.

A series of clues in Spanish lead four real kids down California's famous Old Mission Trail in search of a solution to a mystery of history and hilarity! LOOK what's in this mystery - people, places, history, and more! Definition of missions, and their functions in the past and present Š Mission architecture and design Š Missions and the California Gold Rush Š Why missions were founded, and the hardships involved Š IndiansŠ reactions to the missions, and the effects of the missions on the Indians Š Father Junipero Serra's work with the missions and his burial Š Important facts about each mission the group visits, including information on architecture, present-day status of the mission, the bells in each mission, circumstances surrounding the missionsŠ foundings, and other distinctive trivia Š foundings, and other distinctive trivia Š Secularization Š El Camino Real Š Ojo de Dios craft Š Mission La PurŠsima Š Concepci-n, Lompoc Š Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Š Mission Santa Solvang Š Mission Snaventura, San Buenaventura Š Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano Š Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, San Gabriel Š Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa-a, Mission Hills Š Mission San Antonio de Padua, Jolon Š Mission Nuestra Se-ora de la Soledad, Soledad Š Mission San Francisco de As's (or Mission Dolores), San Francisco. This book was nominated for the prestigious 2004 Beatty Award! Like all of Carole Marsh Mysteries, this mystery incorporates history, geography, culture and cliffhanger chapters that will keep kids begging for more! This mystery includes SAT words, educational facts, fun and humor, built-in book club and activities. Below is the Reading Levels Guide for this book: Grade Levels: 3-6 Accelerated Reader Reading Level: 5.7 Accelerated Reader Points: 3 Accelerated Reader Quiz Number: 74565 Lexile Measure: 870 Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level: Q Developmental Assessment Level: 40

Founding the missions -- The making of a missionary -- Recruiting converts -- Daily life of the mission Indians -- Daily life of the friars -- Daily life of the Gente de Razón

“Nothing defines California and our nation’s heritage as significantly or emotionally,” says the California Mission Foundation, “as do the twenty-one missions that were founded along the coast from San Diego to Sonoma.” Indeed, the missions collectively represent the state’s most iconic tourist destinations and are touchstones for interpreting its history. Elementary school students today still make model missions evoking the romanticized versions of the 1930s. Does it occur to them or to the tourists that the missions have a dark history? California Mission Landscapes is an unprecedented and fascinating history of California mission landscapes from colonial outposts to their reinvention as heritage sites through the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Illuminating the deeply political nature of this transformation, Elizabeth Kryder-Reid argues that the designed landscapes have long recast the missions from sites of colonial oppression to aestheticized and nostalgia-drenched monasteries. She investigates how such landscapes have been appropriated in social and political power struggles, particularly in the perpetuation of social inequalities across boundaries of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and religion. California Mission Landscapes demonstrates how the gardens planted in mission courtyards over the past 150 years are not merely anachronistic but have become potent ideological spaces. The transformation of these sites of conquest into physical and metaphoric gardens has reinforced the marginalization of indigenous agency and diminished the contemporary consequences of colonialism. And yet, importantly, this book also points to the potential to create very different visitor experiences than these landscapes currently do. Despite the wealth of scholarship on California history, until now no book has explored the mission landscapes as an avenue into understanding the politics of the past, tracing the continuum between the Spanish colonial period, emerging American nationalism, and the contemporary heritage industry.