Settlements in Baja California

HERE have been many changes in the number, size, character, and distribution of nonindigenous settlements in Baja California since the founding of the first permanent Spanish colony in I697. The two and a half centuries following witnessed in succession the growth of a series of flourishing missions, the virtual depopulation of the peninsula during the nineteenth century, and resettlement within the past seventy-five years. Some of the early settlements have survived the vicissitudes of the years; decaying ruins testify to the former existence of others; yet others have arisen in modern times to take the place of those that have succumbed. The history of the evolution of settlements in Baja California cannot be told in its entirety. Large gaps exist that probably never will be filled. Fortunately there have been compiled, at intervals ranging from four to forty-three years, more or less comprehensive lists of settlements and their populations. The first such list for the peninsula is for the year I768,' when charge of the religious activities in Baja California was transferred from the Jesuit order to the Franciscan. The further transfer of religious authority from the Franciscan order to the Dominican in I772 resulted in the compilation of a second comprehensive settlement list, and reports of individual missionaries for the years I782 and i8oo give a picture of conditions in those times.2 A government report supplies population statistics for the year I836; 3 a historical study of Baja California written a few years later contains settlement data for I857.4 Finally the official Mexican government censuses furnish the necessary data for the years I900, I910, I92I, and I930.5 Statistics from these sources have been used to construct a series of maps, Figures I to Io, which present a broken but nonetheless useful chronological picture of changes in the number, size, and distribution of settlements in the peninsula from I768 to I930

Archaeology · Geography · Human settlement · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Latin American history and culture · Mexican Socioeconomic and Environmental Dynamics

• Nicholas Trist and Baja California

  Eugene Keith Chamberlin•Pacific Historical Review•1963

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• Futile Filibustering in Baja California, 1888-1890

  Andrew F Rolle, Andrew Rolle•Pacific Historical Review•1951

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