Mission Cereal Production in the Frontier Region of Baja California during the Late Eighteenth Century

Abstract

The “Frontier region” on the Baja California peninsula was a historical space that took shape between 1768 and 1834, serving first as a frontier zone—separating mission settlements from unconverted Indigenous groups—and subsequently evolving into the domain of a frontier society. This colonization process sought to gather the region’s Yuman-speaking peoples into settled communities, while also evangelizing them and integrating them into the Spanish language and culture. To this end, it was essential that these mission communities—conceived as tools of colonization—produce the primary food staples required by both the neophytes and the soldiers: corn, wheat, and barley. In this context, examining cereal production during the final decades of the eighteenth century contributes to a better understanding of the regional history of the vast northwestern territory of New Spain.