Echeandía, José María de (?–1833)

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Echeandía, José María de (?–1833)

José María de Echeandía (d. after 1833), governor of Alta California (1825–1831), in control of the southern part of the territory from 1832 to 1833. His most important policies concerned the Franciscan missions. He refused orders to expel the Spanish-born Franciscans in 1828, because most of the missionaries were from Spain and the missions would thus have been left without priests. Echeandía also initiated a partial emancipation of more acculturated Indian converts living primarily in the southern missions, most of whom left the missions.

Internally, Echeandía faced several revolts, which he successfully repressed, but he took power in the south following a military uprising against then-governor Manuel Victoria. In foreign relations, Echeandía allowed the Russians at Fort Ross to hunt for otters in Mexican waters. Wounded in an 1833 uprising, Echeandía returned to Mexico.

See alsoFranciscansxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

David J. Weber, The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846: The American Southwest Under Mexico (1982).

Additional Bibliography

Miller, Robert Ryal. Juan Alvarado, Governor of California, 1836–1842. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

                             Robert H. Jackson