Research Paper on:
THE SETTLING OF CALIFORNIA

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
always this way. Early in its history it was wild and untamed country, influenced by the necessity to survive and peopled with a mixture of those who were born there  and those who could get there. All of the various influences, from the Native American origins to the immigrant workers, California was shaped and molded into one of the foremost  states in the Union. METHODS USED TO SETTLE CALIFORNIA It is a common misconception that before the Europeans entered California that the area was not civilized. In fact, according  to James Rawls and Walton Bean in their book, California, there were great numbers of indigenous people living all across California before the white man set foot in it. These  various tribes of Native Americans went by various names. The Ohlone, for example, had vast trading networks with other tribes, and as such had settled many of the areas in  and near the waterways. Before the Spanish began colonizing the area in 1769, there were more than 300,000 Indian people here(Rawls, Bean 2003). Rawls and Bean state that there were  over one hundred different tribes, varying in culture and traditions, before the colonization by the Spanish. With the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors the Native Americans way of life  would change for the worse. Cortezs men arrive in what is now called Baja, California, and immediately began to colonize the area. Later, other conquistadors would venture into Alta and  Santa Barbara(Rawls, Bean 2003). All in all, however, most of the Spanish adventurers merely claimed the land for the crown, then returned home, doing little to colonize the area. This  would come much later. Missions were one of the largest ways in which the Spanish impacted the areas in which the intended to colonize. Once the decision to colonize