After the downfall of the federal system in Mexico, the peninsula was again placed in the same department as Alta California, and its inhabitants were invited to support the American cause in the war between the United States and Mexico, on the understanding that the former country would keep possession of this province, and protect …
On the eastern side of the peninsula are copper mines so promising that the Rothschilds have purchased them at high figures; and there is recently reported the discovery of a new and valuable mine of this metal at San Fernando, on the west side of the mountain range. The silver mines near San Antonio were …
William Walker, a Scotch-American, 29 years old, of strong personal characteristics and adventurous nature, after a varied career, conceived, about 1853, the idea of forming independent republics in certain districts of Mexico, the remoteness and sparse settlement of whose districts made the plan seem feasible. He was impelled, no doubt, largely by an emulative spirit …
The history of the missions from this time on reads like a romance. The natives at first were friendly, and rendered willing services in return for slight rations of grain and porridge. Later they became refractory, began to steal from the strangers, and then went on to personal attacks, often repeated, of murderous in-tent. Unexpected …
The first Jesuit priest to tread Lower California soil was Father Roque de Vega, chaplain to Francisco de Ortega, on that worthy’s third survey. Ortega, on this voyage, on January 14, or 15, 1636, anchored his vessel of seventy tons’ burden in the bay called Playa Honda, eleven miles south of La Paz. A terrible …
Welcome to La Baja California, I am Judy White and I along with Blanca Salvatierra will be your hosts for La Baja California WorldGenWeb. If you would like to adopt one of the Mexican states please visit their home page. We are working to translating these pages into Spanish, which I don’t speak, but Blanca …
General Henry S. Burton, deceased, once a distinguished military man on this coast, was born at West Point, May 9, 1819, when his father, Major Oliver Burton, was stationed at that post. He received his appointment as a cadet before he was quite six-teen years old; would have entered the military academy in January, 1835, …
The existence of gold in the northeastern part of La Baja has long been known. Old maps show the general location of gold-bearing districts in that territory lying in a direct line between San Diego and the mouth of the Colorado River, and due east of the Ensenada. In 1870 gold placers were discovered in …
After 1767 the Spanish Viceroy gave the administration of the government in La Baja to the commandant of the presidio troops, who acquired the title of governor. The capital was at Loreto, commonly called Presidio de Californias. In Jane, 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico, the charge of the California missions was offered …
Franciscan and the Dominican Occupation of Lower California Read More »
Very soon after the conquest of Mexico the attention of Cortez was attracted by certain stories told by some of the conquered tribes regarding a mysterious but wonderful country, lying far to the northwestward. This land they called Ciguatan, or The Realm of Women; and they declared that it abounded in gold, in pearls, rubies, …
Discovery and Early Exploration of La Baja California Read More »