0016 Pre-Columbian Period Through the End of Mexican Rule (SMR 3.1) Flashcards

1
Q

Geographically speaking, California is a state of _________.

A

Extremes; CA has a great variety of geographic regions, landforms and climates

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2
Q

California stretches _____ miles from NW corner on the _____ Ocean to the SE corner at _____ and ______ rivers.

A

825; Pacific; Gila & Colorado

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3
Q

What is the highest point in the contiguous 48 states?

A

Mt. Whitney

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4
Q

What is the lowest point in the contiguous 48 states?

A

Death Valley

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5
Q

What conditions exist along the coast vs. the mountains vs. the valleys vs. the desert in California?

A

Coast: mild and temperate
Mountains: heavy snow
Valleys: great temperature variations & perfect temp for agriculture
Deserts: Arid conditions & temperature fluctuations

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6
Q

The vast majority of CA’s populations are in what cities?

A

LA, SF, Oakland, Sacramento and San Diego followed by the Central Valley. The rest of the state is quite rural

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7
Q

How many tribes and cultural groups were present in pre-contact CA?

A

Several hundred tribes and different distinct cultural groups because of geographical diversity and isolation. They arrived from both the North and South of the present day US Southern and Northern border (Canada and Baja CA)

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8
Q

What type of groups did pre-contact native americans live in?

A

Large family groups with little political structure was the dominant style of tribal groups, but due to relative geographical isolation, tribes lived in smaller groups than they did in the rest of the US

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9
Q

What was the economy of pre-contact native americans like?

A

Limited agriculture because they had other abundant food sources which made cultivation unnecessary and there was not enough rainfall to have abundant agriculture. They made various crafts and had manufacturing. They mostly fished and hunted.

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10
Q

What was the culture like of pre-contact native americans in CA like?

A

Geographical diversity of the region also created cultural diversity, therefore the style of dress, housing, and transportation varied from region to region

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11
Q

What 6 distinct geographical areas did the major CA tribes live in?

A
  1. Northeast
  2. Northwest
  3. Great Basin
  4. Colorado River
  5. Central
  6. Southern
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12
Q

What were the 5 major tribes in CA?

A
  1. Mohave
  2. Shoshone
  3. Shasta
  4. Chumash
  5. Pomo
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13
Q

Explain the Mohave tribe

A

actually were the lone agriculturally based tribe, they settled near the Colorado River so they had access to the water for agriculture and they had the largest concentration of people in Southern California at the time of the Spanish arrival

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14
Q

Explain the Shoshone tribe

A

Nomadic, Great Basin tribe, foragers and hunters of berries, fruits, and pine nuts, hunted rabbits, didn’t engage in trade until they received horses in 1700’s from Spanish

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15
Q

Explain the Shasta tribe

A

partially sedentary, pastoral nomads, they would follow seasons and animals that they hunted and move to mouth of rivers to settle in Spring, men hunted and fished while women foraged, used shells as money for currency, settled in the Northeast, traded with western groups

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16
Q

Explain the Chumash tribe

A

coastal and partially sedentary, pastoral nomads, hunter/foragers who used canoes to fish and traveled to different permanent villages for use of trade, matriarchal society, chiefs could be either man or woman

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17
Q

Explain the Pomo tribe

A

Northwest coastal and river based hunters and foragers, not a collective or organized tribe and moved in small bands linked by geography and by marriage, geographical forms separated them not political forms, and they were the fewest in number prior to Spanish arrival

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18
Q

What tribe had the largest concentration of people in Southern California at the time of Spanish arrival?

A

Mohave

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19
Q

What tribe had the smallest number of people prior to Spanish arrival?

A

Pomo

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20
Q

What tribe used shells as money for currency and traded with other wester groups?

A

Shasta

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21
Q

What tribe had a matriarchal society?

A

Chumash

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22
Q

What tribe didn’t engage in trade until they were introduced to horses in the 1700’s from the Spanish?

A

Shoshone

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23
Q

Why did Europeans originally come to America and specifically to CA?

A

Europeans originally came over to America in search of Indian Ocean trade routes, they came to CA because of fables of enormous land with wealth, one talked of a land filled with women and animals harnessed with gold

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24
Q

Who was the first explorer to discover Alta California?

A

1542: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (Portuguese explorer under Spanish crown) sails from Mexico to San Diego harbor and “discovers” Alta California

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25
Q

Why was Alta California considered backwater for nearly a century?

A

Was originally seen as backwater that didn’t have the gold and silver resources that South America and Mexico had, didn’t always have the warm weather necessary for salt production like in the Caribbean, so Alta, CA for nearly a century was considered backwater

The fact that it was sparsely populated with native americans meant it was harder to bring them together to do things like mining

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26
Q

Who founded California’s first 9 missions?

A

1769-1784: Franciscan Juniperro Serra

27
Q

How many missions would end up being established and where were they established?

A

21 missions established through El Camino Real “The Royal Road” by 1823

28
Q

Why were missions created?

A

Founded to convert Indians to Christianity / teach them the European lifestyle and to secure area for Spanish settlement

Since Native Americans were sparsely populated, the missions were a way to bring them together

29
Q

What did the missions offer to the native americans?

A

Provided agricultural education, the Friars from Spain were well versed in agriculture and since the climate was similar, they were able to teach them, this is the birth of agriculture in California

30
Q

Indians were used as a ________ for the missions

A

Slave labor force

31
Q

How were the sites for the missions decided?

A

The sites for each of the CA missions were carefully selected by the Spanish missionaries. The sites had to have good supplies of water and fertile soils for growing crops. Most important of all, the missions had to be located near Native population centers

32
Q

What were some of the different methods that were used to recruit native americans into the missions?

A

Many different methods were used to recruit Indians into mission, one was through agricultural education, encouragement by conquistadors to populate Native Americans with a mixed race

33
Q

Why did Native Americans suffer high death rates at Missions?

A

Primarily because of disease

34
Q

What was the policy at missions for converted native americans?

A

Enforced Residence

35
Q

What were Presidios?

A

Spanish built forts that were meant to protect the missions from violent indian revolts

36
Q

What did the Presidios consist of?

A

Presidios consisted of quadrangular enclosure surrounded by a ditch and a rampart of earth or adobe brick. Inside the quadrangle were housing for Spanish settlers, storehouses, wells and a church, provided a hall of justice and emergency necessities, would provide well there, protected by soldiers

37
Q

What was placed near Presidios to provide a food supply to the missions?

A

Civilian towns or pueblos were founded near presidios to provide a food supply.

38
Q

Where was the first civilian town/ pueblo?

A

The first to be established was San Jose (1777), followed later by Los Angeles

39
Q

How did Spanish settlers and native americans feel when the Mexican govt came in?

A

Even with Spanish settlers, California is still sparsely populated so the people lived in semi-autonomous rancheros and haciendos and became used to their autonomous way of life, so when the Mexican govt would later come in, they pushed back against this (i.e. the story of Zorro)

40
Q

For over 200 years, Alta (or Upper) CA was part of __________. Why was this important?

A

Vice royalty of New Spain

A governor was sent by Spanish crown to lead the region which made it distinctive from the lower regions of New Spain including what would later become Mexico and South America

41
Q

What set Alta California apart from the populations surrounding it?

A

Alta California had their own distinct culture and because of their sparse population they hadn’t been conquered but instead been settled by missions which were considered to be temporary institutions, they had more allegiance to the Spanish crown than they did to the new Mexican govt

42
Q

What would cause a greater demand for the secularization of the Missions in 1821?

A

Mexican Independence

43
Q

Who ordered the secularization of the CA missions?

A

1834: Governor of CA, Jose Figueroa, ordered the secularization of the California missions.

44
Q

What brought about a class difference in Alta California?

A

Upon the secularization of the CA missions, land was primarily granted to a few wealthy landowners, resulting in many landless Indians. Huge cattle ranches or ranchos were created by Mexican administrators then employed native americans

45
Q

What did early residents of Alta CA call themselves?

A

Californios

46
Q

What did the Californios do for leisure?

A

For leisure, Californios found entertainment in bear or bull fights, distinctive style of California wedding, made them a distinctive culture separate from Mexico

47
Q

How did Ranchos in Alta California trade?

A

Rancho owners traded hides, fresh meat, and tallow to the military for manufactured goods, brought to CA by ships from either US or other parts of Latin America

48
Q

Why did the early US settlers come to California even when it was a Mexican province?

A

Earliest visitors were sea otter and beaver hunters who traded with Californio for hides, meat and tallow – led to a drive for business and building of trade

49
Q

Who was the first wagon train of overland settlers to arrive in CA from the US and when did they arrive?

A

1841, the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, they were distinctive pioneers that were able to outlast the strenuous road that led through the high sierras

50
Q

How did other wagon trains fare after the Bartleson-Bidwell Party?

A

In 1846-1847, the Donner-Reed party attempted to travel and took a shortcut called the Hastings cutoff that ended up actually being more dangerous and much longer. Out of the 87, only 48 survived, and no adults over 49 or children under 6 survived

51
Q

Why did the Donner-Reed Party not have the same success as the Bartleson-Bidwell party?

A

They took the Hastings cutoff and ended up getting trapped in the Sierra’s in the early onset of winter

52
Q

How did the story of the Donner-Reed Party impact the US?

A

The story went back to the East Coast and discouraged others to make the same trek

53
Q

When did the Mexican American War start?

A

In 1846, fueled in part by feelings of Manifest Destiny

54
Q

What happened in 1844 that would eventually be a reason for the start of the Mexican American War?

A

US President James K. Polk offered Santa Ana to buy land for 30 million but Mexico turned them down

55
Q

What are the two theaters of the Mexican American war?

A

The Texas and the California theater, once TX becomes annexed to the states in 1845, there becomes a major border dispute leading the first battle of the Mexican American war in May 1846. Word of this hadn’t spread to CA until later

56
Q

What happened on June 14, 1846 in the Mexican-American War?

A

The Bear Flag revolt in Sonoma (aka the Sonoma Revolt).

57
Q

What was the Bear Flag Revolt?

A

US soldiers show up in CA and the American settlers who had come for trading and on wagons earlier were inspired by the US soldiers to revolt, first battle of California theater

58
Q

What marked the end of the California Republic?

A

On July 9, 1846, US military forces landed along the coast of CA and ended the California Republic

59
Q

What was the California Republic?

A

An unrecognized breakaway state that for 25 days in 1846 militarily controlled Sonoma. In June during the Bear Flag revolt, 33 American immigrants in Alta California who had entered without official permission rebelled against the Mexican depts govt. They were mad that they had not been allowed to buy or rent land and had been threatened with expulsion

60
Q

How would fighting continue after the end of the California Republic?

A

Coastal battles would continue for places like Monterey and down the coast, even inwards towards the high sierras and territory of AZ and UT

61
Q

What treaty ended fighting in CA and created a ceasefire?

A

The Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847; the forces of the MX govt surrender but land isn’t turned over to the US, instead the treaty gave Californios fair treatment under the US law as long as they didn’t revolt against the US

62
Q

While Mexican forces were defeated elsewhere, especially in TX, fighting in CA was ceased for _____ before the end of the war in 1848.

A

a year

63
Q

How did the Mexican American war end?

A

With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, CA, NV, UT, AZ, and NM were handed over to the US for $15 million