The Franciscan friars came to California to convert native Californians to the Roman Catholic faith. The friars believed that the soul of every person who was not Catholic was condemned to eternal damnation in the afterlife. Therefore, the friars believed they were literally saving souls.

First Contact

The Indians, on the other hand, had no knowledge of Roman Catholicism and almost no experience with fair-skinned Europeans. In some native communities, elders told stories of the early Spanish and English explorers. These were stories of bearded, fair-skinned men arriving by sea in huge vessels. The stories passed down from generation to generation and took on the quality of myths. Many years before, their ancestors may have encountered Spanish explorers led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo who landed on the Pacific Coast in 1542, or Sebastián Viscaíno in 1603. Some may have met the English...