Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití

Missions of Baja California

You know how I said I'd be interested to know what happened to 15-year-old Michael Claringbud White when he was stranded in Cabo? Well, I still am!

 

I feel like I'm a little closer, though.

 

Unlike today's teenager on spring break, young Mike was probably in a pretty bad way when he got to Cabo. No "Girls Gone Wild" and body shots of tequila, I'm guessin'.

 

And I have to be candid, folks; there ain't much about the Spanish mission system I like. They were set up to enslave and kill indigenous people, and that's what they did. The only thing you can say that's positive is that at least the padres were sometimes a

San Jose del Cabo

mitigating influence on the soldiers, and that ain't much to commend it. But we have to know our history, or there's no way we can get past it.

 

The history of the Alta California Missions was shaped by the Baja California Missions, and young Mike was right smack in the middle of it. San José del Cabo wasn't exactly an urban hub when he landed there, but we can imagine that he was welcomed at the mission and that probably caused him to look favorably on missions as the center of the community from that day forward. He probably started learning Spanish at that time, and he probably started appreciating Mexican culture and food right about then too. Maybe he even started calling himself Miguel.

 

Mission

After being born in Kent, raised on English cuisine and getting pawned off on a whaler, the sunny shores of Cabo must've been pretty nice in comparison.

 

Now all that is pure conjecture, but here's what we know about the local mission, Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití:

 

And here's the reference: Vernon, Edward W. 2002. Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California, 1683–1855. Viejo Press, Santa Barbara, California.

 

Mission San José del Cabo was the southernmost of the Jesuit missions on the Baja California peninsula, located near the modern city of San José del Cabo in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

 

The southern cape of the Baja California peninsula had been an often-visited landmark for Spanish navigators (as well as English privateers) for nearly two centuries when a mission was finally established at the Pericú settlement of Añuití in 1730 by Nicolá Tamaral. Initially located near the beach, the station was subsequently moved inland about 8 kilometers.

 

In 1734 the Pericú Revolt broke out, Tamaral was killed, and the mission was destroyed. In 1735–1736, the reestablished outpost was moved back closer to the coast, but it served as a visita for Mission Santiago and as the site of a Spanish presidio. In 1753, San José del Cabo was again moved inland. In 1795, under the Dominicans, the surviving native population of Mission Santiago was transferred to San José del Cabo. The mission was finally closed in 1840.

 

Here's a list of the 33 Baja California missions (there are 21 up north, plus Pala) 

· Misión San Bruno (1683)

· Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó (1697)

· Visita de San Juan Bautista Londó (1699)

· Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó (1699)

· Misión San Juan Bautista Malibat (Misión Liguí) (1705)

· Misión Santa Rosalía de Mulegé (1705)

· Misión San José de Comondú (1708)

· Misión La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó (1720)

· Misión de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de La Paz Airapí (1720)

· Misión Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Huasinapi (1720)

· Misión Santiago de Los Coras (1721)

· Misión Nuestra Señora de los Dolores del Sur Chillá (1721)

· Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán (1728)

· Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití (1730)

· Misión Santa Rosa de las Palmas (Misión Todos Santos) (1733)

· Misión San Luis Gonzaga Chiriyaqui (1740)

· Misión Santa Gertrudis (1752)

· Misión San Francisco Borja (1762)

· Visita de Calamajué (1766)

· Misión Santa María de los Ángeles (1767)

· Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá (1769)

· Visita de la Presentación (1769)

· Misión Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario de Viñacado (1774)

· Visita de San José de Magdalena (1774)

· Misión Santo Domingo de la Frontera (1775)

· Misión San Vicente Ferrer (1780)

· Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera (1797)

· Misión Santo Tomás de Aquino (1791)

· Misión San Pedro Mártir de Verona (1794)

· Misión Santa Catarina Virgen y Mártir (1797)

· Visita de San Telmo (1798)

· Misión El Descanso (Misión San Miguel la Nueva) (1817)

· Misión de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Norte (1834)

 

Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California

Edward W. Vernon