06 December 2010 | Visiting the Missions Along California's Coast Mission San Diego de Alcala (You can download an MP3 of this story at ) FAITH LAPIDUS: I'm Faith Lapidus. STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about the first attempts to settle what is now the western state of California. These attempts began with Spanish settlers who built twenty-one Catholic churches called missions. Our report is about those churches -- the missions of California. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Our story begins in seventeen sixty-eight in Madrid, Spain. The king of Spain, Charles the Third,. | 06 December 2010 Visiting the Missions Along California s Coast Mission San Diego de Alcala You can download an MP3 of this story at FAITH LAPIDUS I m Faith Lapidus. STEVE EMBER And I m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the first attempts to settle what is now the western state of California. These attempts began with Spanish settlers who built twenty-one Catholic churches called missions. Our report is about those churches -- the missions of California. MUSIC FAITH LAPIDUS Our story begins in seventeen sixty-eight in Madrid Spain. The king of Spain Charles the Third had recently received reports that worried him. The reports said Russian explorers were in the northern part of the territory called California. Spain had claimed most of that area more than two hundred years earlier. But Spain had no settlements in California. King Charles knew if the Russians began to settle the area Spain might lose control of California forever. STEVE EMBER King Charles decided the best way to keep the Spanish claim to California was to build settlements there. California had good harbors for Spanish ships good weather and good farmland. 2 King Charles decided to order the creation of a series of small farming communities along the Pacific Ocean coast of California. The settlements would provide trade and grow into larger cities. Spanish citizens might want to settle there. Then the Spanish claim to California would be safe. FAITH LAPIDUS But there was no one on the coast of California to begin the work. King Charles and his advisors decided that the farming settlements would begin with churches called missions. Missions were places where Roman Catholic religious leaders converted people to the Christian religion. They taught the religion to people who wanted to become members of the church. King Charles decided Roman Catholic priests would build the missions and settlements with the help of Native
