Friar Junípero Serra: Response to the Revolt and Destruction of Mission San Diego

In this letter, missionary Junípero Serra informs the viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María de Bucareli, of the destruction of Mission San Diego. Since the sixteenth century, Catholic settlements called missions were essential elements in Spain's colonization of the North American borderlands. Spanish missionaries approached the Indigenous populations through a friendly exchange that involved gifts. The missions acted benevolently as a counterweight against the ambitions of the conquistadors, who conscripted Native Americans as a labor source. Less benevolently, the missionaries worked with the support of the crown to expand its dominions. Missions had military support, usually from presidios (military fortifications) built in the same location. The conversion of the Indigenous populations to Christianity usually meant the loss of their own beliefs and languages.