When The Missions Arrived
The first mission, Mission de San Diego de Alcalá, was built on 1769 (The Great California Genocide). The missions were one of the top reasons why the Spaniards wanted to annihilate the indigenous people. These missions were described as coercive religious, forced labor camps. Once they were taken to the missions they were forced to work as slaves and the death toll in this missions kept increasing; the percentage of the Indians who died in the missions went up to 86% (The Great California Genocide). The Indians did revolt but many of them still managed to be brutally killed. Land was taken away from the native people and given to political leaders.
The Arrival of The 49ers
When the Gold Rush began, millions of people traveled to California seeking gold and many of them were dangerous, ready to kill millions of people indigenous to the land. People created special organizations whose main goal was to exterminate the Indian people and kidnap their children (The Great California Genocide). Not only did the American people ignore what was happening, but they encouraged the American people by putting a price on the bodies of the native people. The government would pay $1,000,000 for scalping missions and would sell children; the prices differed depending on the gender (Gold, Greed and Genocide). Reservations were supposed to be built for these Indians, however the government broke the treaties and made the Indians work as slaves (The Great California Genocide).
Act for "Protection" of Indians
This law was passed in California in which adult white people gave the rights to adopt or enslave a Indian child if it was an orphan or with the consent of the parents (The Great California Genocide). This law was later changed in which now they could enslave adults as well. Other laws were made in which Indian civilians were not allowed to own property, firearms, attend public schools, or intermarry (The Great California Genocide). In retrospect, at this point these people could be considered humans, and they were now enslaved under the law and given restrictions. However, this did not grant them a legitimate protection against mistreatment and prejudice.
The indigenous peoples have suffered greatly as you can plainly see, and their pain and deaths should not be forgotten.
The first mission, Mission de San Diego de Alcalá, was built on 1769 (The Great California Genocide). The missions were one of the top reasons why the Spaniards wanted to annihilate the indigenous people. These missions were described as coercive religious, forced labor camps. Once they were taken to the missions they were forced to work as slaves and the death toll in this missions kept increasing; the percentage of the Indians who died in the missions went up to 86% (The Great California Genocide). The Indians did revolt but many of them still managed to be brutally killed. Land was taken away from the native people and given to political leaders.
The Arrival of The 49ers
When the Gold Rush began, millions of people traveled to California seeking gold and many of them were dangerous, ready to kill millions of people indigenous to the land. People created special organizations whose main goal was to exterminate the Indian people and kidnap their children (The Great California Genocide). Not only did the American people ignore what was happening, but they encouraged the American people by putting a price on the bodies of the native people. The government would pay $1,000,000 for scalping missions and would sell children; the prices differed depending on the gender (Gold, Greed and Genocide). Reservations were supposed to be built for these Indians, however the government broke the treaties and made the Indians work as slaves (The Great California Genocide).
Act for "Protection" of Indians
This law was passed in California in which adult white people gave the rights to adopt or enslave a Indian child if it was an orphan or with the consent of the parents (The Great California Genocide). This law was later changed in which now they could enslave adults as well. Other laws were made in which Indian civilians were not allowed to own property, firearms, attend public schools, or intermarry (The Great California Genocide). In retrospect, at this point these people could be considered humans, and they were now enslaved under the law and given restrictions. However, this did not grant them a legitimate protection against mistreatment and prejudice.
The indigenous peoples have suffered greatly as you can plainly see, and their pain and deaths should not be forgotten.