Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza (* July 1736 in Fronteras (in what is now the Mexican state of Sonora ), † December 19, 1788 in Arizpe , Sonora), was the first descendant of Europeans who in 1774 made an overland route from Mexico through the Sonoran Desert to the Pacific coast of California found.
Spanish conquerors had been researching such a connection for more than 200 years. In the years 1775/1776 Anza led an expedition to the area of today's San Francisco on behalf of the New Spanish Viceroy , which became the starting point for the settlement of the San Francisco Bay and was supposed to consolidate the claims of Spain on Alta California .
Anza was born in Fronteras in what is now the Mexican state of Sonora in 1736 as the son of a father from the Basque Country in northwestern Spain. Anza joined the army in 1752 at the age of 16 and served on the northern border of what was then New Spain. In 1761 he married the daughter of a mine owner. The marriage remained childless. On explorations, which were mainly aimed at the settlement areas of the tribes living in the north, he discovered large areas of today's Arizona .
In 1774 Anza led a small expedition from Tubac (now in Arizona, south of Tucson ) to the San Gabriel Arcángel Mission northeast of what is now Los Angeles , led by a captured Indian. That was the proof of a land route. Anza immediately began planning a colonization expedition that would underline the Spanish Crown's claim to Alta California against Russian and British claims and lead to the recently discovered Bay of San Francisco north of the fortress (Spanish: Presidio) of Monterey founded in 1770 .
On October 22, 1775, Anza started the almost 2,000 km long expedition from Tubac with a trek of 240 colonists, mostly women and children, and a few missionaries as well as 1,000 head of cattle, which initially headed northwest across the area of Tucson and Gila Bend which Colorado led into the tribal area of the Yuma. Two missionaries stayed with the Yuma and started a small mission. From Colorado, the expedition continued west through the Sonoran Desert to reach the Pacific coast again at San Gabriel . After a break of several weeks, the expedition's train turned north along the coast and finally reached Monterey . From there he began exploring San Francisco Bay, which he first reached on March 28, 1776. Anza determined the site for the fortress and mission station that made San Francisco.
However, he himself returned to Mexico City before construction began , where he was appointed governor of New Mexico in 1777 . In 1787 he returned to Sonora and was to be appointed commander of the fortress of Tubac in 1788. However, he died in Arizpe before he could take office.
The land connection he found remained in use until the outbreak of a Yuma revolt in 1781. This was enough time to establish the new settlements in Alta California . Later the Anza way served the military, settlers, drovers and gold prospectors.
Others
In 1990 the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail was established. The road runs mostly asphalt from Tubac to San Francisco. Sections of the Historic Trail are also laid out as hiking and riding trails.
The Anza-Borrego Desert , which is one of the areas crossed by his expeditions, was named after Anza . In addition, the asteroid (2061) Anza bears his name.
literature
- Urs Bitterli : The discovery of America: From Columbus to Alexander von Humboldt . CH Beck, Munich 1999 ISBN 3-406-42122-9 p. 436.
- Carlos R. Herrera: Juan Bautista de Anza: The King's Governor in New Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2018, ISBN 978-0-8061-6191-4 .
- Alan Taylor: American Colonies. The Settlement of North America to 1800. Viking, 2001; Penguin, Reprint 2002 ISBN 0142002100 (Frequent new editions. Editions without ISBN were also published). About Anza: p. 458f. (with a map of all fortresses and mission stations in California around 1784, p. 453).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Anza, Juan Bautista de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 1736 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fronteras |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 19, 1788 |
| Place of death | Arizpe , Sonora |