The Spanish missions of Baja California Sur
The history of Baja California has ancient roots and it's closely linked to the colonization of missionaries, first the Jesuits, then the Franciscans and the Dominicans. In January 1633, the Spanish government provided an expedition to Baja California with three ships and 200 men commanded by Governor Sinaloa, Isidro de Atondo y Antillon, accompanied by the Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino. The ships disembarked at what would later become the city of La Paz . The first settlement in La Paz was quickly abandoned because of the local population, who turned out to be hostile and unwilling to settle. So they tried again, near Loreto, but that same attempt failed. Kino and Atondo y Antillon then returned to the continent where the former went to establish several missions in the north-west. It was not until 1695 that another Jesuit priest, Juan Maria de Salvaterria , succeeded in establishing a permanent Spanish colony in Loreto: the Nuestra Señora de Loreto mission that quickly became the r...