Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish Relations in Colonial California, 1769-1850

by Steven W. Hackel

Recovering lost voices and exploring issues intimate and institutional, this sweeping examination of Spanish California illuminates Indian struggles against a confining colonial order and amidst harrowing depopulation. To capture the enormous challenges Indians confronted, Steven W. Hackel integrates textual and quantitative sources and weaves together analyses of disease and depopulation, marriage and sexuality, crime and punishment, and religious, economic, and political change. As colonization reduced their numbers and remade California, Indians congregated in missions, where they forged communities under Franciscan oversight. Yet missions proved disastrously unhealthful and coercive, as Franciscans sought control over Indians' beliefs and instituted unfamiliar systems of labor and punishment. Even so, remnants of Indian groups still survived when Mexican officials ended Franciscan rule in the 1830s. Many regained land and found strength in ancestral cultures that predated the Spaniards' arrival. At this study's heart are the dynamic interactions in and around Mission San Carlos Borromeo between Monterey region Indians (the Children of Coyote) and Spanish missionaries, soldiers, and settlers. Hackel places these local developments in the context of the California mission system and draws comparisons between California and other areas of the Spanish Borderlands and colonial America. Concentrating on the experiences of the Costanoan and Esselen peoples during the colonial period, Children of Coyote concludes with an epilogue that carries the story of their survival to the present day.

Genres: History, American History, School, Nonfiction, Native American, Native American History

496 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2005

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

me when we read a book about where i’m from: :D
me when i realize everything that happened: D:

[Brianna Herndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great take on Spanish-Indian relationships in early California that doesn't paint missions as entirely bad or entirely good. Breaks with prior California mission historiography by granting focus to the ecological aspects of colonialism and by highlighting Indian agency.

[Cutcha Risling Baldy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll insert something soon about this one...

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the early material was a duplication of the Weber book. Interesting to know what happened In e Monterey area.

[Marlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book! very comprehensive and thorough info about california's history and the mission system.