Portolá expedition
The Portolá Expedition, conducted in 1769, was the first significant European exploration of present-day California, led by Captain Gaspar de Portolá. This Spanish mission aimed to locate Monterey Bay and consisted of sixty-three men, including soldiers, muleteers, and Indigenous converts from Baja California. Notably, the expedition inadvertently passed Monterey Bay, reaching San Francisco Bay before turning back to San Diego after a grueling 1,200-mile journey. During their travels, the expedition encountered various Indigenous communities, establishing generally peaceful relations, although these interactions would later shift as Spanish colonization progressed, leading to significant disruptions for Native populations.
The expedition marked the onset of Spanish colonial efforts in California, which included the establishment of missions and military settlements that drastically reduced the Indigenous population over subsequent decades. The legacy of the Portolá Expedition is complex, as it initiated significant changes in the region while also raising contemporary discussions about colonialism and its impacts, including calls to reassess public monuments associated with this history. Today, remnants of this expedition are commemorated through historical landmarks and trails that recognize both the routes taken and the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the land prior to colonization.
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Portolá expedition
The Portolá Expedition was a Spanish exploratory mission in California that set out to reach Monterey Bay. The expedition, led by Captain Gaspar de Portolá took place in 1769 and included sixty-three men. Along the way, the group met a number of Indigenous peoples and engaged in peaceful relations with the groups. The expedition unintentionally passed Monterey Bay, making it all the way to the San Francisco Bay before turning around to head back to its starting point in San Diego. This expedition was the first of its kind in California and marked the beginning of Spanish colonialism there. The Spanish soon began building missions and military settlements across the state, resulting in a sharp decline in the Indigenous population.
Background
Prior to European colonization, present-day California was occupied by a diverse Native American population that included the Maidu, Cahuilleno, Mojave, Yokuts, Pomo, Paiute and Modoc. California’s temperate climate, ample food supply, and absence of wars contributed to a large and healthy population. When Europeans first arrived to California, the Indigenous population was likely around 300,000, which would have accounted for 13 percent of all indigenous peoples living in North America at the time.
Europeans first arrived in California when Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortez’s men arrived in Baja California in 1542. That same year, explorers sailed northwards, reaching as far as Santa Barbara. Baja California remained the limit of Spanish colonization in California until the mid-1700s. Spain did not make any serious attempts to colonize California until the 1760s. Colonization efforts were made through a combination of military forts and mission churches. In 1769, the first Spanish parties headed north from Baja California with a mission to reach the bay of Monterey.
Overview
The first explorers traveled in two divisions that included three ships and two land expeditions. Travelers from the overland expedition met in San Diego and learned that one ship had vanished while the other two crews were sick with scurvy. The commander of the expedition, Captain Gaspar de Portolá, continued on northward. He left Father Junípero Serra behind in San Diego to found the first mission in California.
Portolá’s sixty-three-person crew consisted of soldiers from Spain and Mexico, muleteers, servants, and a group of Native American converts from the missions of Baja California. The expedition advanced slowly, sometimes less than four miles per day. They stopped every four or five days for rest while scouts explored the land ahead.
The men made camp at several sites in Orange County in 1769. They reached San Juan Canyon on July 23, Arroyo Traduco near July 25, Tomato Springs on July 26, Santiago Creek on July 27, and the Santa Ana River on July 28. An earthquake struck while they were here, startling the expedition members. By Aug. 11, 1769, the Portolá Expedition arrived at the junction of the Arroyo Mupu and Santa Paula Creek. They named the area the Holy Martyrs Ipolito and Cassiano. The priests of the Mission San Buenaventura established Asistencia Santa Paula and held services for the Mupu Native Americans that lived in this area.
The expedition continued north and west, somehow passing their intended goal of Monterey without recognizing it. They continued all the way to San Francisco Bay, an area that was at that time unknown to the Spanish. By then, it was November. Illness and rainy weather had begun to take their toll on the men. They returned south, passing Monterey Bay, traveling at two to three times the speed that they had on their way north. During their return journey, they ate the weakest of their mules, one by one. They reached San Diego on Jan. 24, 1770, after a 1,200-mile journey. Portolá did not stay in San Diego long, returning to mainland Mexico in July 1770.
Part of Portolá’s orders from Spain was to try to establish peaceful relationships with the Native Americans that the group met along the way. In his journal, Portolá wrote about various bead and cloth exchanges the group had with the people they met. Records from the expedition mention that some Native Americans began shouting when they saw the Spanish approaching, but that there was never any show of force. The Indigenous peoples always approached the Spaniards unarmed, making speeches and offering gifts. When the expedition arrived in Aramai/Chiguan territory on Oct. 28, 1769, the Aramai greeted the travelers warmly, presenting them with food. The Spanish wrote that they were “very friendly heathens” who gave them tamales and black seeds.
The amiable relations between the Spanish and Native American population were short-lived. Once the Spanish started to settle in California, the soldiers often came into conflict with the local population. Colonization by the Spanish—including the building of missions meant to convert locals to Catholicism—led to a near eradication of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral homelands. By 1834, the native population of California was only about twenty percent of what it had been at first contact with Europeans. The Spanish dominated California for more than forty years, at which point the land was ceded to Mexico when it became independent from Spain.
In 2020, the city of Pacifica, Calif., discussed removing a statue of Portolá near the city’s community center. Those who wanted to see it removed said it was a symbol of Spanish colonization. This came at a time when cities across the United States were discussing removing similar landmarks featuring Confederate soldiers and Spanish conquistadors. The Portolá statue was gifted to California by Spain in the late 1980s, and is the work of internationally-acclaimed Catalonian sculptor Josep Subirachs. The board of directors of the Pacifica Historical Society called it unfortunate that the city was not already preparing informational displays about the Native Ohlone people.
Today, the Mission San Buenaventura is a historical landmark managed by California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation. It was registered on Feb. 5, 1960. The ninety-mile Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail identifies the route between Ohlone villages that the Portolá expedition took through San Mateo County. Interpretive panels installed near the trail marker for the Portolá Expedition Camp Site at Hillcrest Boulevard in Millbrae describe the practices of the native Ohlone and the expedition’s experiences during their exploration of the region.
Bibliography
Brigandi, Phil. “The Portolá Expedition in Orange County.” OC Historyland, 2019, www.ochistoryland.com/portola. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
Cordero, Jonathan. “Encounters with the Portolá Expedition.” National Park Service, 3 June 2021, www.nps.gov/articles/portolaexpedition.htm/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
“Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail.” The San Francisco Peninsula, 2023, www.thesanfranciscopeninsula.com/things-to-do/arts-and-culture/ohlone-portola-heritage-trail/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
“Ohlone-Portolá Interpretive Panels Installed on Crystal Springs Regional Trail.” Climate Online Redwood City, 3 Jan. 2023, climaterwc.com/2023/01/03/ohlone-portola-interpretive-panels-installed-on-crystal-springs-regional-trail/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
“Pacifica Historical Society Weighs in on Portola Statue.” Pacifica Tribune, 20 Jan. 2021, www.pacificatribune.com/opinion/letters‗to‗editor/pacifica-historical-society-weighs-in-on-portola-statue/article‗82b9e845-5b12-5e53-a66d-80814d472313.html. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
“Portolá Expedition.” California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation, ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/727. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.
“The First Peoples of California.” Library Of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/california-first-person-narratives/articles-and-essays/early-california-history/first-peoples-of-california/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023.