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The Spanish conquest of Alta California in the 1760‘s- 1780‘s was the most interesting aspect of Chapter 19 in American Colonies. What first struck me was that the Spanish had explored the region both in the 1540’s and early in the 17th century. They had decided that the land was not bountiful enough to be considered worthy of conquest and missions (p. 456-457). In fact, they were only motivated to claim the land as theirs after hearing reports that the Russians and British were looking to make their own colonies there. This is important because it shows Spain’s true motivation in claiming the land. It was less about conversion of natives and spreading Catholicism, and more about competition with other foreign powers and protecting their land in Mexico. Their complete lack of knowledge about the land they were attempting to colonize is also noteworthy. According to Taylor, the Spanish thought of Alta California as undeveloped wilderness and they thought of the natives who lived there as “gente sin razon (people without reason” (p. 460). In reality, the natives had positively “reshaped and enhanced” (p.455) the environment and the Spaniard’s conquest and assimilation of natives proved to negatively affect hunting and plant and tree growth.
In the grand scheme, it could be argued that a lot of these smaller details Taylor provides about Spanish conquest in Alta California aren’t that important. It seems as if Taylor goes out of his way to provide extra evidence of Spanish ignorance and arrogance when they conquered new lands. He also shares examples of shocking brutality from Spanish soldiers and commanders towards the Natives. This section of the chapter, which to me seemed like a scathing criticism of Spanish conquest tactics, is consistent with how Taylor describes them throughout this book.
In this blogpost (http://sites.davidson.edu/his141/the-russians-are-coming-the-russians-are-coming-and-the-spanish-missionaries-too/), the author writes in more detail about how unfavorable life was for Natives after they were colonized and how they were essentially turned into slaves, even though the primary goal of colonization, according to the Spaniards, was conversion. While most, if not all European Nations who colonized in the New World were oppressive and nasty towards native people who already lived there when they arrived, it seems as thought the Spanish were far more blatantly uncivil and indecent in how they did things. I think Taylor and @jelaws would echo this point.