El Presidio de Santa Barbara

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=608 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_Santa_Barbara El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, also known as the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, is a former military installation in Santa Barbara, California, USA. The presidio was built by Spain in 1782, with the mission of defending the Second Military District in California. In modern times, the Presidio serves as a significant tourist attraction, museum and an active archaeological site as part of El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park. The park contains an original adobe structure called El Cuartel, which is the second oldest surviving building in California, only the chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano, known as "Father Serra's Church", is older. The Presidio of Santa Barbara has the distinction of being the last military outpost built by Spain in the New World.

El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. The 1782 site of the original El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, the last Spanish fortress built in Alta California, celebrates California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (805) 965-0093. This publication can be made available in alternate formats. Contact interp@parks.ca.gov or call (916) 654-2249. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov Discover the many states of California.™ El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park 123 East Canon Perdido Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805)965-0093 • www.sbthp.org © 2002 California State Parks (Rev. 2013) many diverse communities, cultures and traditions. E l Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park preserves and interprets the last Spanish fortress built in Alta California. The 5.74-acre park spans four city blocks, encompassing the remainder of the original 1782 Presidio. Its soldiers’ quarters, El Cuartel, is Santa Barbara’s oldest building — California’s second oldest. Set between the Santa Ynez mountains and the sea, the park celebrates all of Santa Barbara’s diverse cultures — starting with the first people, the Chumash. NATIVE PEOPLE As early as 13,500 years ago, tens of thousands of indigenous people, later known as Chumash (“shell bead maker” or “island people”), lived along the Santa Barbara coast and on a single island in the adjacent channel. This island eroded and submerged to become today’s five Channel Islands. Early Chumash used stones, animal skins and bones, shells, and wood for tools, clothing and ornament. They traded with each other as well as with neighboring peoples. The Chumash are renown for their finely crafted shell beads and complex economic system. The Chumash people lived in villages with domed dwellings called aps, made of willow poles and woven tule thatching. They wore clothing from animal hides and woven plant fibers, decorated with colorful bird feathers. Grasses and other fibers were twisted into cords, ropes and intricate baskets. Chumash baskets were both useful and ornamental. Jug-shaped baskets were waterproofed by rolling heated pebbles coated with asphaltum  —  natural tar washed from undersea fossil-fuel pools — within the finished baskets. Evidence shows that about 2,000 years ago, the Chumash constructed the first wooden plank canoe, known as a tomol. They sealed the seams with asphaltum. The tomol enabled them to leave Limuw (site of A Chumash elder explains Chumash traditions. the largest Chumash ancestral village now known as Santa Cruz Island) to establish other villages and coastal trade networks from present-day Morro Bay to Malibu. The strong cultural and maritime heritage of the Chumash continues today. Groups hold celebrations and pow-wows; elders teach tribal language, games, and basket-making. Descendants use tomol for an annual channel crossing to Limuw. European Contact Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo recorded the first non-Chumash sighting of the Santa Barbara area in 1542. Much later, Spaniard Gaspar de Portolá’s expedition passed through the channel in 1769. Portolá’s findings prompted Spanish ruler King Carlos III to order Alta California’s lands colonized for Spain and the California native people converted to Christianity. The Spanish built military fortresses, rancho complexes and pueblos to colonize the land; they ordered mission complexes built to hasten the conversions. Spain initially established three military fortresses or presidios at natural harbors on bays along California’s coast in San Diego (1769), Monterey (1770), and San Francisco (1776). The fourth and final fortress was the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio (El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara). Commandant José Francisco de Ortega brought soldiers and settlers from northwestern Mexico to the chosen site in Santa Barbara. The presidio site was dedicated by Father Junípero Serra at its founding on April 21, 1782. Construction began, using Chumash labor contracted with Yanonalit — noted chieftain of several nearby villages. EL Presidio Flourishes Mandated by King Carlos III, California Governor Felipe de Neve ordered the Santa Barbara Presidio constructed to protect arriving Spanish settlers and local mission communities from the threat of British or Russian invasion. From 1782 to 1830, the Presidio served as a cultural, social and administrative center for European people living between the Santa Maria River and the