Mission San Diego de Alcalá - San Diego, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 32° 47.073 W 117° 06.393
11S E 490022 N 3627407
This was the first of many Spanish missions established to Christianize the first peoples in the Californias.
Waymark Code: WMJQYF
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/20/2013
Views: 3
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was the first Franciscan mission in the Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it was founded in 1769 by Spanish friar Junípero Serra in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians. The mission and the surrounding area were named for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego. The mission was the site of the first Christian burial in Alta California. San Diego is also generally regarded as the site of the region's first public execution, in 1778. Father Luís Jayme, "California's First Christian Martyr," lies entombed beneath the chancel floor. The current church is the fourth to stand on this location. The Mission is a National Historic Landmark."
As for the book, Mission San Diego de Alcala by Kathleen J. Edgar,
GoodReads (
visit link) has this blurb:
"The story of the missions is a compelling human drama that is a vital piece not only of California history, but also of American history. Indeed, many keys to California's past lie in the stories of the 21 missions that stretch along the state's west coast from San Diego to San Francisco. They are the physical and cultural building blocks on which modern-day California communities and identities are built. However, there are also broader historical lessons to be learned by reading about the mission settlements. As with other pivotal periods in American and human history, the mission era was a time in which different cultures and world views came into contact and conflict. The missions were founded in the 1700s and 1800s by Spanish friars, who had followed explorers to the New World. The friars were missionaries who wanted to bring the Christian religion to the indigenous peoples of the New World. This vital series is compatible with the mission-based curriculum used in fourth-grade California classrooms. It resonates equally with all social studies programs that explore the defunct notion of colonialism and its controversial role in the history of the United States, and with curricula that seek to explore the interaction of different cultures and the rights and voices of indigenous peoples.
Hardcover, 64 pages
Published January 1st 2001 by PowerKids Press (first published August 2000)"