Ceramic Production in Early Hispanic California: Craft, Economy, and Trade on the Frontier of New Spain

4. Incorporation into New Spain: Presidio Jurisdictions

4 Incorporation into New Spain Presidio Jurisdictions In the last third of the eighteenth century, Alta California was annexed to New Spain in an attempt to forestall the seemingly inexorable southward expansion of Great Britain and Imperial Russia along the Pacific coast of North America. This annexation was effected using three distinct types of settlements: missions, pueblos, and presidios. Missions, operated by the Franciscans, were to be the nexus for the conversion and transformation of indigenous peoples into loyal supporters of the Spanish Crown. These were to be largely self-sufficient agrarian communities that would become the primary suppliers of foods and goods to civilian pueblos and presidios (Lightfoot 2005, 55, 58–59). Pueblos were agrarian civilian communities whose populace was largely made up of retired soldiers and their families. The men served as the colony’s reserve militia, and their households and ranches helped supply the presidios (Moorhead 1975, 234). Presidios were garrisoned forts that served as the center for the administration of civilian, Indian, and military affairs and justice (Faulk and Faulk 1988, 3; Moorhead 1975, 87; Williams 2004a, 16). When we consider the expansion of Anglo-America into the hinterlands of the Atlantic seaboard, the prevailing image of frontier life has been one of self-reliance. The settlers transformed the backwoods into an extension of the extant colonies through the creation of communities inhabited by diverse collections of farmers, ranchers, and craftspeople. The Spanish colonial world was no different. Expatriates living in the 40 Part II. Tradition and Transformation of Alta California hinterlands of a colonial system do not “go native” if they have regular communication with and supplies from the mother country to aid in their transformation of their new homes. They were dependent on Mexico, the missions, and the pueblos for supplies and labor (Archibald 1978). The Spanish supply system, however, was consistently unable to provide the manufactured goods their colonists needed, causing the residents of Spanish America to turn to other options, specifically illicit trade with foreigners to meet demands (Archibald 1978, 115, 123, 131–141). To think that none of the Spanish colonies in America could “adequately” subsist by relying on legal supply systems raises the question of what was adequate. Driving the issue of self-sufficiency was the very real issue of supply. Except for an eight-year period from 1774 to 1781, Alta California, for all intents and purposes, was an island. During that period, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza blazed a trail from Tucson, Arizona, across the Colorado River at what is today Yuma, Arizona, and on to Mission San Gabriel in the Los Angeles Basin. Across this trail came the priests, soldiers, and settlers who would establish the Presidio of San Francisco, Missions San Francisco and Santa Clara de Asís, and the pueblo of San José in 1776 and 1777. The crossing and the trail were permanently closed in 1781, when the twin mission settlements of San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer and La Purísima Concepción were destroyed by the Yuma people, leaving communication with the capital of New Spain, Mexico City, restricted to the sea. Transport by sea, however, could be difficult, as the 1,000-mile trip from New Spain to San Diego could take as long as three months. The voyage took longer than usual because of prevailing westerly winds that forced mariners to beat far out to sea and then tack back to the coast. In contrast, return trips usually took no more than a few weeks. The stepping-off point for the voyage was San Blas, located on the coast of what is today Nayarit, Mexico. San Blas, located some 125 miles south of Mazatlán on the mainland side of the mouth of the Gulf of California, was founded in 1768 as a shipyard and naval depot. It was the main point of embarkation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for such supply ships as the San Carlos and the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (known commonly as La Favorita) and served both Baja and Alta California (Archibald 1978; Perissinotto 1998; Weber 1992). Supply ships carried many of the materials that made this largely overlooked corner of the empire a familiar place for its expatriate residents. Study of existing account books reveals Incorporation into New Spain: Presidio Jurisdictions 41 that the harshness of life on the frontier was lessened through the importation of textiles, pharmaceuticals...