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Colonization in the “New” World could only stay on the Atlantic seaboard for so long, and this was exactly the case. Eventually the West Coast and Pacific area was the hot commodity and it was the Spanish who took first interest in the area. Although, the Spanish “toured” or investigated the land of what is now California they saw nothing of interest and returned to their central location of colonization in the Mexico area. Accompanying the Spaniards on the Pacific coast were the Russians who were very few and much further North. The Russians primarily looted the Pacific Coast in the frigid waters near Alaska hunting sea otter pelts for trade.
EVFARESE makes a claim in their blog post pointing out the vast lack of knowledge in the Pacific Coast of North America. This lack of knowledge is alluding to the fact that the Spanish were fearful of other groups in this region; such as, the Russians in what is known as Russian America. Therefore, the Spaniards were fearful of a group so distant that they began to reinvestigate California in order to quickly claim land as they always had when first arriving in the Americas. By quickly claiming land the Spaniards hoped it would act as a buffer to their central location in Mexico, which is where their economic prosperity derived from. The Spaniards created what is known as “Alta California” as well as “Baja California” by simply dividing California into a Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Why did the Spaniards believe the Russians were much closer and larger posing more of threat than they actually were? Communication was not very easily accessible and it took time for word to be passed along especially between two different colonial powers let alone within one colonial power. Therefore, the Spanish began to colonize in a land they once deemed as unsuitable for their needs in order to provide a buffer.
The Spanish began to colonize and this once again brought them in contact with the Natives. The Spanish were infamous for their brutal treatment of the Natives in colonial history; and although this was a different region their attitude did not change. The “Black” Legend existed for a reason. The Spaniards sought to convert those native to California, and labeled them as “gente sin razón,” the Spaniards thought they were the only ones who possessed reason (Taylor 460). The missions led to an inevitable outcome and that was tension and violence that the Spaniards thrived off of. In light of all the madness the Spaniards still felt as if they had established a successful buffer against a colonial power that quite realistically had little power in the grand scheme of things and whose presence was barely felt except to the Spaniards.