Spanish Missions

The Jesuit Order was given the task to establish these missions as they had been successful on the mainland of Mexico. Because all previous attempts at colonizing the peninsula had failed, the Jesuits made special demands to have complete autonomy in the project. The king agreed, but the Jesuits would have to finance the operation with private money. Benefactors came forward and donated to a ‘Pious Fund’ from which the system could build the missions.

The following 70 years, 17 missions were founded by the Jesuits on the peninsula. They also had built a ‘Royal Highway’ called El Camino Real to connect the missions and their satellite sub-missions, called ‘visitas’ which supported the head mission, called a ‘cabecera’.

El Caminno Real was later explored by photographer Bill Crosbey, who published several books about the Californias, creating one of the best archives of cultural history ever made in Baja. This trip is just a selected segment of the whole journey.