Customer Reviews

Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californias, 1846-1890

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pitt's history of the decline of the Californios is an extremely important record of California's past. Few contemporary Californian's are familiar with the rugged settlers who came to this place and created a society of their own. Largely abandoned by the Spanish and then Mexican overseers, robbed by the invading Americanos, the Californios left their indelible mark upon us. their influence is subtle now, but we still live in the various "ranchos" they founded and ranched. This is a very accessible and well-written piece of scholarship. It is simple enough to qualify as a popular history, well researched enough to be taken seriously in academia.

The new introduction by Gutierrez and myopic views of Americano "robbery" are more indicative of the current state of mind than reflective of Leonard Pitt's original assessment. The Californios were colorful, benevolent, brutal and highly racist. Yet, much current commentary attempts unsuccessfully to lay their demise at the feet of unfettered white expansionism. Pitt's own Preface states, "...the Spanish and Mexican Californians were numerically too small and culturally too backward to contribute to mankind much that was new or original." This along with the book was written in 1966, while Gutierrez' 1998 Foreword asserts the book is "brutally honest about Anglo discrimination toward ethnic Mexicans." To fully understand this bias, one should read Pio Pico's Historical Narrative. Pico, himself a Californio and the last Mexican Governor of Alta California, tells a harrowing tale of helping his sister elope with an Anglo American in the 1830s, because the Mexican Government, administered locally by Californios, forbade the wedding on grounds of the Anglo's race. Pico also provides great recollections of the Californios' whippings, incarcerations and executions of the native tribes of California whose residency predates the Spanish and the Mexicans. Serious historians of this era will also be aware of the New Spain policy of "stamping" every individual by race (quatroons, mulattoes, etc.) - a policy adopted by the emergent Mexican "republic," and hence the Californios, after its independence from Spain. In the 19th century it was common for any nation and/or race to promulgate the fortunes of its own. Certainly the Anglo-Americans did that, also certain is that the Californios did as well. Pitt was balanced in these facts, Gutierrez, and current PC-oriented commentary does a disservice painting these tough, rugged Rancheros as docile victims. Andres Pico showed that at the Battle of San Pasqual they would fight hard and kill Anglos, which they did, to save their hegemony over Alta California, hoping to preserve their own brand of discrimination.

Wonderful genealogical source for those with ties to the "Californios"...great reading for anyone interested in early California history as well.

This is an angry book. This is a smart book. This is a sad book. But most importantly, particularly in these days as the Latino and Mexican population of California continues to grow in numbers and influence, this is a book that requires you to look at the history of the State of California from a different view, and to maybe begin to understand the seriousness of the events and history covered.

It has been at least a decade since I read this volume, but its true stories still resound in me. This book is an education and what more can one ask for from such a work. William J. Trinkle, Director, The Bear Flag Museum.

pitt certainly gives us a descriptive account of life in California before the gold rush and after. his referring to so many names and families did make the whole story of the people a little confusing.