Tumacacori Mission

Over the last month or so, we've seen a lot of missions.  At each one we get a little different history and learn more.  One thing that has struck me was how many Native Americans died due to diseases like smallpox and measles.  One museum mentioned in at least one area only 1 in 7 people lived through the epidemics that hit when Europeans starting visiting the Americas!


At this mission there was a lot of discussion of the politics and fighting between different people.  There were 3 different cultures of Native Americans:  Pimas (or O'odham) from this area, Yaqui from the south, and Apaches from the North.  The Apaches were more warlike and attacked the mission several times.  Even the priests were political in some ways.  The mission was started by Jesuits in 1691.  In 1767, King Charles felt threaten by the Jesuits, recalled them all, imprisoned them, and then later exiled them.  The Franciscans were assigned to run the missions after that.  Why can't we all just be friends!