Manuscript Diary, 1750

From the earliest days of their empire in the New World, the Spanish sought to gain control of the native peoples and lands of what is now Sonora, Mexico. While missionaries were successful in pacifying many Indians, the Seris—independent groups of hunter-gatherers who lived on the desert shores and islands of the Gulf of California—steadfastly defied Spanish efforts to subjugate them. This personal account—in Spanish—of the “entrance made into the Isle of Tiburón (Gulf of California) in this year of 1750” concludes with a fifteen-page poem on the subject.

Selected Pages

Call number: Clark Library Ms. Mexico