Why did the Anza expedition come to California?
During the late 1700s, Spain had a world empire that included much of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. In order to prevent rival European powers from gaining control of California, Spain made a major attempt to occupy and develop the region. As part of the larger project to extend Spanish political control, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza, the commander of the presidio (military outpost) of Tubac, in modern-day Arizona, received permission from the viceroy of New Spain to lead two expeditions to California. The first, in 1774, established an overland route from Sonora to the California coast, where Spain was creating settlements. The next year, a second expedition under Anza was launched from Tubac on October 23, 1775 to bring 30 families of colonists comprised of soldiers and their families (197 people) to California. This second expedition had the immediate objective of creating a new military outpost at the strategic harbor of San Francisco. It arrived in
