Unit 2 Chapter 4

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Unit 2 Chapter 4

• Mexican California

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Mexican California

• New lands were offered to Californias settlers,
  and the age of cattle ranching began.
• The new landowners worked hard to raise the herds
  of cattle.
• Although the people were now spread across
  Californias countryside, they were linked by a
  strong Spanish and Indian culture.

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Cattle Ranching
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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Mexican California

• Mexican citizens claimed huge pieces of land.
• On September 15, 1810, the Mexican War for
  Independence was launched, leading to a shift in
  control of California from Spain to Mexico.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Mexican California

• In 1834, the Mexican government passed a land law
  that closed the missions in Alta California.
• California looked forward to the arrival of
  trading ships twice a year.
• After the Mexican War for Independence, the
  Mexican government closed the missions and
  legalized foreign trade in California.

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Trading Ships
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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Mexican California

• A new class of landowners settled on large
  ranchos, and the pueblos began to grow in size as
  they became centers for trade and government.

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Ranchos
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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 1 Traders in California

• Spanish people who were born in Mexico could not
  hold the same jobs as the Spanish who came from
  Spain to rule them.
• The Mexican Spanish and the Indians longed for
  independence. They wanted to rule themselves
  rather than be controlled by an outside
  government.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 1 Traders in California

• The Mexican War for Independence raged throughout
  Mexico for 12 years.
• The people of Alta California who called
  themselves Californios did not take part in the
  battles.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 1 Traders in California

• Spain stopped sending supply ships.
• Other countries like Russia, England, and the
  United States began to send trading ships.
• The Californios needed supplies and gratefully
  traded with the outsiders.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Beginning in 1834, alcaldes or mayors helped many
  new landowners measure land for cattle ranches,
  or ranchos.
• The new Mexican leaders ordered the Spanish
  missions closed.
• Many Spanish padres went back to Mexico or Spain.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• The Mexican government divided the mission lands
  and herds of cattle among mission Indians,
  Californios, and new Mexican settlers.
• The new Mexican government also gave each Indian
  on a mission some land and cattle.
• But few Indians ever became landowners.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Some Indians returned to the mountains and
  deserts to try to live as their ancestors had.
• Other Indians lost their land to dishonest
  settlers.
• The Californios fought the Indians.
• Many Indians were killed in fights over cattle.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Although some Indians tried to survive by raiding
  cattle, others found work on the ranchos.
• Men and boys who had worked with horses on the
  missions worked as vaqueros, or cowboys.
• Indian women worked as housekeepers for the new
  ranchers, the rancheros.

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Vaqueros
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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Indians were given food, clothing, and alcohol as
  pay for their work.
• The hard life of the Indians on the ranchos, kept
  many from returning to their traditional ways of
  living.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Ranchos and Rancheros
• The first land grants were offered to men who
  were already living in California.
• These men were mostly officers or soldiers at the
  presidios or friends and relatives of government
  officials.
• Later, other Mexican citizens applied for land
  grants too.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Like women in Spain, Mexican and Californio women
  were allowed to own land separately from their
  husbands.
• The new rancheros raised cattle for the hide and
  tallow trade.
• A rancho often covered about 75 square miles of
  land.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Thousands of cattle roamed the unfenced land,
  eating wild grass that grew almost everywhere.
• The rich rancheros kept the customs of well-to-do
  Spanish and Mexican families.
• They lived in large adobe, or clay brick, houses.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 2 From Missions to
Ranchos

• Not all rancheros were wealthy. Some of them
  struggled to make a living from small herds of
  cattle or poor grazing land.
• All rancheros lived miles from their neighbors.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Ranchos and Pueblos

• Vaqueros had to sort the cattle by brand and
  group them into herds.
• After sorting and branding, hundreds of cattle
  must be slaughtered and skinned.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Ranchos and Pueblos

• Rancho Life
• Rodeos took place in January and April.
• The rancheros depend upon their Indian laborers
  to make their ranchos run smoothly.
• Indian vaqueros and laborers worked on the
  ranchos for no pay.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Ranchos and Pueblos

• Each pueblo had a few hundred adobe houses
  grouped around a wide plaza, or town square.
• The town hall, a church, and ranchero houses
  faced the plaza.
• Saddlers, blacksmiths, innkeepers, and laborers
  live and worked in the pueblos.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Ranchos and Pueblos

• The citizens of the pueblos elected a town
  council.
• The council chose an alcalde who acted both as
  mayor and as judge.
• The pueblos were centers for government and for
  fiestas.
• A fiesta was a festival held after a rodeo or as
  part of a wedding or religious holiday.

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Unit 2 Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Ranchos and Pueblos

• During a fiesta, everyone from the pueblo
  gathered in the plaza.
• They watched horse races and enjoyed outdoor
  feasts.
• Many young couples danced the fandango, a lively
  , whirling dance.

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Fandango