Californio
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The Californios were Spanish-speaking inhabitants of New Spain's and, later Mexico's, Alta California. This area was later annexed by the United States following the Mexican-American War in 1848.
Californios included both the descendants of European settlers from Spain and Mexico, and also included Mestizos and local Native Americans who adopted Spanish culture and converted to Catholicism. Much of Californio culture and society lived at or near the many Missions, which were established in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some Americans became honorary Californios due to their early arrival, marriage to Californio women, and their adoption of, and adaptation to, Spanish culture and religion.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., recorded his 1834 visit as a sailor to California in Two Years Before the Mast.
The end of Californio culture is depicted in the novel Ramona, written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1884. The fictional Zorro has grown to become the most identifiable Californio due to short stories, motion pictures and television; although the historical truth of the era is sometimes lost in the story-telling.
Californio independence
Mexico's commander in California, Pio Pico, abandoned the Californios, Mexicans living in California, who organized an army to defend themselves from the United States. The Californios defeated an American force in Los Angeles on September 30, 1846, and, after a military defeat when the Americans reinforced their forces in Southern California, signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo accepting American sovereignty over California on February 2, 1848. [link][link]
Notable Californios
- Juan Bautista de Anza
- Juan Bandini
- *Arcadia Bandini, co-founder of Santa Monica, California
- Juan Bandini
- José Raimundo Carrillo
- José Antonio Estudillo
- Joaquin Murietta, basis for fictional hero Zorro
- Eulalia Perez de Guillén Mariné
- José Maria Pico
- *Pío Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California
- *Andrés Pico
- Sepulveda Family
- * José Sepúlveda
- Abel Stearns
- John Temple, early Long Beach rancher
- Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the name sake of Vallejo, California
- Tiburcio Vasquez, bandit
- José María Verdugo, recipient of major land grant
- Benjamin Wilson, also known as Don Benito Wilson
- José Antonio Yorba, land grant recipient
External links
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