SAN DIEGO'S HISTORIC PLACES: Baja California Special

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published April 4, 2016 at 7:15 AM PDT

View of the west looking down the arroyo of Rancho del Potrero, 1980. Two ranch clearings appear almost as specks in this great cleft in the sierra.

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SAN DIEGO’S HISTORIC PLACES focuses on the first Jesuit priests to arrive in the Baja California Peninsula and how they established 17 missions in the 17th century. The colonization of Baja becomes a major clash between two cultures: the Europeans and the native people. Find out who these priests are, learn about the Missions' architecture and how El Camino Real is still visible today.

Join Host Elsa Sevilla in a six-part documentary series on early Baja California history and its impacts on San Diego.

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EPISODE GUIDE:

Episode 1 - Spanish explorers begin scouting the Peninsula, looking for ports, as early as the 16th century. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo is one of them. We’ll tell you some of his accomplishments and discoveries. Nearly 150 years later a major religious conflict between two cultures changes the course of history in Baja California and later in San Diego, California. We’ll show you what the Jesuit missionaries accomplished in the Peninsula.

Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo began scouting the Peninsula, looking for ports, as early as the 16th Century. On this episode, learn about the Spanish explorer's accomplishments and discoveries on his quest to colonize for Spain. See how a major religious conflict changed the course of history in Baja California and later San Diego, and what Jesuit missionaries accomplished on the Peninsula.

Episode 2 - The Jesuit Catholic priests arrive in the Peninsula to christianize the native peoples and colonize the region for Spain. We’ll show the massive and beautiful missions in Baja California. Many are still standing today. Also, little information is known about the first Spanish soldiers who accompany the Jesuit priests in the late 17th century. Learn their stories from one of the descendants who travels to San Diego to tell his ancestor’s history.

See the massive and beautiful missions of the Jesuit Priests that arrived in the late 17th Century to Christianize the Native peoples and colonize the region for Spain. Many are still standing today. Also, little information is known about the first Spanish soldiers who accompanied them. Learn their stories from one of the descendants who travels to San Diego to tell his ancestor's history.

Episode 3 - Elena Spanish soldiers, Matias, Kumeyaay and more. The Jesuit Catholic Religious Order had been setting the foundation for Spanish colonization in Baja California since 1683. We'll show you what they discovered, established and documented during their time in Baja and it will amaze you. Learn about their determination and hardships to establish the Mission system in the Peninsula and about the first Spanish soldiers who intermarried with the natives and became the early Baja California families. Don't miss an in-depth look into the architecture of the Baja missions - from Loreto to San Diego. We'll also focus on the early Spanish Conquistadors and their impact on the Peninsula and hear personal stories from the early Baja family descendants.

Join Executive Producer & Host Elsa Sevilla on the Baja California Series - as she travels to the Kumeyaay community near Ensenada, Baja California to learn more about the native culture and heritage. Also, are you a descendant of the Spanish soldiers who arrived with the Portola Expedition? Learn more about the soldier’s stories and their families on both sides of the border.

Episode 4 - Learn more about the first European encounter with the Kumeyaay and where it happened. Also, the San Diego Presidio is the birthplace of San Diego and California. Find out how the mission buildings were structured on the hill. And you’ll also learn about the first European, Mexican and Native families in Old Town from the 18th century.

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Presidio Park is the birthplace of San Diego and Alta California. Learn about the first European encounter with the Kumeyaay community at this historic site, the cemetery and mission buildings structured on its hill, and hear stories from the first European, Mexican and Native families in Old Town from the 18th Century.

Episode 5 - In this episode: Manila Galleon, Cecut Museum, and Jesuit priest authors. Before the Jesuit Priests arrive in the Baja California Peninsula, it's the Spanish explorers on the Manila Galleon that help pave the way for Spanish colonization. Learn more about Baja California and the impact it had on San Diego and Alta California.

We visit the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) to learn about early Spanish explorers and the trade routes they established in their quest to find the Northwest Passage. We also learn about early life in the peninsula through the eyes of the natives and the Jesuit priests that resided there.

Episode 6 - In this episode: Serra History Museum, historic adobes, underground tour, and Bandini home. The Jesuit Catholic Religious Order had been setting the foundation for Spanish colonization in Baja California since 1683. Finally, learn what motivated Franciscan Priest, Junipero Serra to bypass Baja California and head directly to Alta California.

We visit Presidio Park to explore the Serra Museum to learn more about early colonial history in Baja California, next we learn about the first Mexican community and where you can find it underground in Old Town, and then we visit the Estudillo Family Home and the Bandini Town House for a look at how people of the period lived.

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