The Impact of Colonization on Native California Societies

By 1769 the Spanish had had nearly two and a half centuries of experience in dealing with American Indians, and were therefore prepared for managing the California Indians who had nothing worth taking, and who fell in that class of people called “Barbarians.” Spanish Indian policy was at heart that of the obligation to civilize these barbarians who in the eyes of the Spanish had no civilization and should be grateful for being given the opportunity to become a proper society.  By Robert Heizer,  Journal of San Diego History,
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Winter 1978