The Spanish period in Northern California began after Gaspar de Portolá first laid eyes on San Francisco Bay during a land expedition in 1769. Franciscan friars soon began setting up missions on or near the coast, including Mission Dolores in what was then called Yerba Buena, and a series of governors were appointed to administer Spain’s newest possession.
Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala entered San Francisco Bay on the San Carlos in August 1775, conducting the first recorded European marine exploration of the bay. When early mariners discovered willow trees near a cove north of Yerba Buena, they recognized the presence of fresh water springs, and dubbed the land Saucelito, meaning little willow. The area quickly gained importance as a sheltered anchorage and water source for Spanish ships.
Concurrently, Spanish soldiers established a Presidio in Yerba Buena to guard the bay from other European powers and to protect the nearby Mission.
As Historical Society founder Jack Tracy wrote in his book Moments in Time, “Life in the provinces of New Spain reflected few of the changes occurring in Europe. Outward change came slowly in the small pueblos and missions in California during the last two decades of the eighteenth century. Daily life there alternated between a difficult pastoral existence and an outright struggle against famine and disease. Captured or lured to the missions, the Native Americans, now universally called ‘Indians,’ became serfs on the land and forced converts into the Church. Soldiers of the Crown who had risked their lives with Portola and trailblazer Juan Bautista de Anza were rewarded with land grants, large tracts of real estate at first intended as little more than grazing rights.”
The Spanish held dominion over the territory until Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, and took over California. Mexican rule lasted until the U.S. won the Mexican-American war in 1848.
By Rip Hunter & Larry Clinton
Sausalito Historical Society