This acclaimed series provides a balanced account of the missions, their impact on existing cultures, and their influences on the development of California. Supports the national curriculum standards Culture; Time, Continuity, and Change; People, Places, and Environments; Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; and Global Connections as outlined by the National Council for the Social Studies.

Go back in time to learn more about the Spanish missionaries who came to California in the 1700s and how the mission system shaped California's history. Each book in this series examines a region of California that was greatly influenced by missions. Missions introduced in San Francisco Bay Area Missions include San Francisco de Asís, Santa Clara de Asís, San José, Mission San Rafael Arcángel, and Mission San Francisco Solano. In this title, you'll learn about the Native Americans living in the San Francisco Bay area before missionaries arrived; why missionaries chose this area and what happened when they arrived; how the missionaries designed and built the missions; what daily life was like at the missions; what happened to cause the end of each mission; and what the missions look like today. This series also includes California Mission Projects and Layouts, which provides directions for creating models of missions. Get ready for Exploring California Missions!

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.

This book is part of the series published by the Center of Diaspora and Relational Research. It covers the history of Chinese diaspora and development of Chinese diaspora congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its focus is on contextualizing diaspora missions and cross-cultural ministry training for Chinese diaspora in the SFBA, including ethnographic description of local cross-cultural ministries of two selected Chinese diaspora churches.

In this finely crafted study Quincy Newell examines the complexity of cultural contact between Franciscans and the native populations at Mission San Francisco.

A Cross of Thorns reexamines a chapter of California history that has been largely forgotten -- the enslavement of California's Indian population by Spanish missionaries from 1769 to 1821. California's Spanish missions are one of the state's major tourist attractions, where visitors are told that peaceful cultural exchange occurred between Franciscan friars and California Indians.