Spain's colonization
of California began at San Diego, when Father Junipero
Serra arrived there in 1769
to build the first in a string of missions that would stretch up the
coast to San
Francisco. In 1775, this ambitious project nearly collapsed when
Indians forced to work at Mission San Diego revolted, killing most
of the settlement's Spanish inhabitants before a corporal named Rocha
drove them off with well-aimed musket fire.
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