Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert

The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier lands of its colony of New Spain.

Geography

The missions are in an area of the Sonoran Desert called "Pimería Alta," or "Upper Pima Country." It is now divided between the Mexican state of Sonora and the U.S. state of Arizona.

Father Kino

From around 1520, the Kingdom of Spain had maintained a number of missions throughout "Nueva España" (New Spain, consisting of Mexico and portions of what today are the Southwestern United States) in order to facilitate colonization of these lands.

In the Spring of 1687, a Jesuit missionary named Father Eusebio Francisco Kino lived and worked with the Native Americans (including the Sobaipuri) in the area called the "Pimería Alta," or "Upper Pima Country," which presently is located in northern Sonora and southern Arizona. During Father Eusebio Kino's stay in the Pimería Alta, he founded over twenty missions in eight mission districts.

It was rumored that the Jesuit priests had amassed fortunes and were becoming very powerful. On February 3, 1768, King Carlos III ordered the Jesuits forcibly expelled from New Spain and returned to the home country.

Missions

*Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores: founded on March 13, 1687. This was the first mission founded by Father Kino. By 1744, the mission was abandoned.
* [http://www.nps.gov/tuma/Remedios.html Nuestra Señora de los Remedios] was founded in 1687 and was abandoned by 1730. Nothing remains of this mission.
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/SanIgnacio.html San Ignacio de Cabórica] was founded in 1687 and is located in San Ignacio, Sonora.
*Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama was founded in 1687, in Tubutama, Sonora.
*Santa Teresa de Atil was founded in 1687, in the small town of Atil, Sonora.
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/Magdalena.html Santa Maria Magdalena] was founded in 1687, located in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. Padre Kino's grave is located here.
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Imuris.html San José de Imuris] was founded in 1687, in Imuris, Sonora.
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/Cocospera.html Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago de Cocóspera] was founded in 1689. It is located in Cocóspera, Sonora.
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/Oquitoa.html San Antonio Paduano del Oquitoa] was founded in 1689. It is located in Oquitoa, Sonora.
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/Pitiquito.html San Diego del Pitiquito] was founded in 1689. It is located in Pitiquito, Sonora.
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Kino_Missions.html#Bacoancos San Luis Bacoancos] was founded in 1691, but was soon abandoned after Apache attacks.
*Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas was founded in 1691 at a native Sobaipuri settlement. Later a church was built. After the 1751 Pima Revolt the settlement and mission were moved to the opposite side of the river and became --
*Mission San José de Tumacácori, the presently known location that is a National Historic Park. The farming land around the mission was sold at auction in 1834 and the mission was abandoned by 1840. It is now a National Monument in Tumacácori National Historical Park in Southern Arizona.
*Mission Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi was founded in 1691 and is the location of the first church built in southern Arizona. The church was initially established in a native settlement, but then was destroyed by fire, probably during an indigenous uprising. The church rebuilt in new locations twice, the final and largest one being built in 1751. Its ruins are part of Tumacácori National Historical Park.
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Kino_Missions.html#Lazaro San Lázaro] was founded in 1691, but was soon abandoned after Apache attacks.
*San Xavier del Bac ( [O'odham language|O'odham [Papago] : Va:k), now in Tucson, Arizona, founded in 1692, the present building dates from 1785. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments showing a mixture of New Spain and Native American artistic motifs. It is still used by Tohono O'odham and Yaqui tribal members.
*San Cosme y Damián de Tucson: founded 1692
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Caborca.html La Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Caborca] : founded 1693
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Suamca.html Santa María Suamca] : founded 1693
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/Bisanig.html San Valentín de Busanic/Bisanig] : founded 1693
*Nuestra Señora de Loreto y San Marcelo de Sonoyta: founded 1693
*Nuestra Señora de la Ascención de Opodepe: founded 1704
* [http://www.nps.gov/archive/tuma/sonoitac.html Los Santos Reyes de Sonoita/San Ignacio de Sonoitac] : a rancheria near Tumacacori, founded 1692.

References

*Burrus, E. J., 1965, "Kino and the Cartography of Northwestern New Spain." Tucson, AZ: Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society.
*Burrus, E. J., 1971a, "Kino and Manje: Explorers of Sonora and Arizona." In Sources and Studies for the History of the Americas, Vol. 10. Rome and St. Louis: Jesuit Historical Institute.
*Di Peso, Charles, 1953, "The Sobaipuri Indians of the Upper San Pedro River Valley, Southwestern Arizona." Dragoon, AZ: Amerind Foundation Publication No. 6.
*Di Peso, Charles, 1956, "The Upper Pima of San Cayetano del Tumacacori: An Archaeohistorical Reconstruction of the Ootam of Pimeria Alta." The Amerind Foundation, Inc. Dragoon, Arizona.
*Karns, H. J., 1954, "Luz de Tierra Incognita." Tucson, AZ: Arizona Silhouettes.
*Kessell, John L., 1970, "Mission of Sorrow: Jesuit Guevavi and the Pimas, 1691-1767." Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
*Masse, W. Bruce, 1981, "A Reappraisal of the Protohistoric Sobaipuri Indians of Southeastern Arizona." In The Protohistoric Period in the North American Southwest, A.D. 1450-1700. David R. Wilcox and W. Bruce Masse, editors. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Anthropological Research Papers No. 24, pp. 28-56.
*McIntyre, Allan J., 2008, [http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=0738556335&Store_Code=arcadia&search=NEW&offset=100&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=name.asc&range_low=&range_high=%20&srch_newbook=1 "The Tohono O'odham and Pimeria Alta"] . Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
*Officer, James E., Mardith Schuetz, and Bernard Fontana (editors), 1996, "The Pimeria Alta: Missions & More." Tucson, AZ: The Southwestern Research Center.
*Pickens, Buford L., 1993, [http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid356.htm "The Missions of Northern Sonora, A 1935 Field Documentation"] . Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
*Robinson, William J., 1976, "Mission Guevavi: Excavations in the Convento." The Kiva 42(2):135-175.
*Seymour, Deni J., 1989, "The Dynamics of Sobaipuri Settlement in the Eastern Pimeria Alta." Journal of the Southwest 31(2):205-222.
*Seymour, Deni J., 1990, "Sobaipuri-Pima Settlement Along the Upper San Pedro River: A Thematic Survey Between Fairbank and Aravaipa Canyon." Report for the Bureau of Land Management.
*Seymour, Deni J., 1993, "Piman Settlement Survey in the Middle Santa Cruz River Valley, Santa Cruz County, Arizona." Report submitted to Arizona State Parks in fulfillment of survey and planning grant contract requirements.
*Seymour, Deni J., 1993, "In Search of the Sobaipuri Pima: Archaeology of the Plain and Subtle." Archaeology in Tucson. Newsletter of the Center for Desert Archaeology. 7(1):1-4.
*Seymour, Deni J., 1997, "Finding History in the Archaeological Record: The Upper Piman Settlement of Guevavi." Kiva 62(3):245-260.
*Seymour, Deni J., 2003, "Sobaipuri-Pima Occupation in the Upper San Pedro Valley: San Pablo de Quiburi." New Mexico Historical Review 78(2):147-166.
*Seymour, Deni J., 2007, "A Syndetic Approach to Identification of the Historic Mission Site of San Cayetano Del Tumacácori." International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 11(3):269-296.
*Seymour, Deni J., 2007, "Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part I." New Mexico Historical Review, 82(4).
*Seymour, Deni J., 2008, "Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part II." New Mexico Historical Review, 83(2).
*Seymour, Deni J., 2008, "Father Kino’s 'Neat Little House and Church' at Guevavi." Journal of the Southwest 50(4)(Winter).

ee also

* Indian Reductions
* Jesuit Reductions
* Spanish colonization of the Americas

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/tuma/Kino_Missions.html Kino Missions] , US National Park Service
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/ Arizona Education, Kino Missions]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E7DF103CF93BA15752C0A9679C8B63&sec=travel&pagewanted=print In the Footsteps of a Bold Priest] , "New York Times"
* [http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/bibl.html Bibliography, Kino Missions]