Fray Juan Crespi, missionary explorer on the Pacific coast, 1769-1774 examines the arduous imperial reconnaissance and nascent mission expansion situated along the vast, uncharted littoral edge of Alta California and the rugged Pacific Northwest. Crespí and Bolton detail how the region's formidable coastal macro-geography—specifically the unrelenting, deeply incised coastal mountain ranges, the sprawling, hidden estuarine network of San Francisco Bay, and the treacherous, fog-shrouded maritime headlands extending into the northern latitudes—strictly dictated the margins of early Spanish overland marches, strategic presidio placement, and precarious seaborne exploration. By mapping Crespí’s grueling overland expeditions through dense coastal chaparral and his subsequent naval voyage into the impenetrable temperate rainforests and storm-battered indigenous waters of the far northern coast, the narrative highlights how this specific immense, linear geography anchored Spain's tenuous, hyper-extended imperial ambitions entirely to the continent's ocean-bound edge. Ultimately, this exploratory and ethnohistorical record serves as a macro-level spatial history, demonstrating how the immense overland distances, severe topographical barriers, and obscuring maritime climates of this Pacific coastal landscape fundamentally shaped the highly precarious, geographically strained character of early Spanish reconnaissance.

1769-1770, California, California Pacific Coast, Discoveries in geography, Expédition de Portolá, Calif., 1769-1770, Franciscans, Franciscans California, Missions espagnoles Californie, Missions, Spanish, Missions, Spanish California, Pacific Coast (Calif.) Discovery and exploration, Pacifique, Côte du (Calif.) Découverte et exploration, Portol

Reprint of the 1927 ed"Crespi's diaries are printed here as the primary part of this book."

Reprint of the 1927 ed"Crespi's diaries are printed here as the primary part of this book."