Life In A California Mission Summary

Life in a California Mission: The Journals of Jean François De La Pérouse gives an insight into the lives of Native Americans during the 18th century from a European perspective. This was a period referred as “Age of Discovery” since most people, cultures and societies, who dominated unexplored regions of the world, were now being discovered. In the same period, 1769 – 1833, several missions came up between San Diego and Sonoma that were each day’s journey estimated at 30 miles apart. Each mission had two priests to oversight and a group of soldiers provided protection for the mission. Life there consisted of long days of hard, repetitive work with only holiday celebrations providing the needed time off for the community in missions. The Europeans were now exploring all the territories in the various regions. The Spanish started the first undertaking in California on …show more content…
It included his judgment about the natives, who lived there as he had travelled and traversed with his voyage. While going to church one day, he passed by a place where the Indians sat in a rows with each sex seated on its own row. For instance, he recounts seeing Indian men and women as he left the church. The missionary also provides a description of the Indian villages before and after the introduction of their mission work. The village mostly had cabins, which served as housing for Indians, and they were in a miserable condition. From his description, the cabins were tiny and served all the family members, hence lacked the private space. The men and women assembled by the sound of the bell. The churchmen would instruct the villagers on their daily duties whether on the farm, church or at home. We talk about it with pain, when men and women work on the same level with the same tools and equipments and some are punished, yet not too