www.montereycountynow.com MARCH 12-18, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 Mexico in the fall of 1775, officially launching from Tubac, in what is now Arizona, with colonists of mixed Spanish, African, Afro-Latino and Indigenous descent, along with 200 cattle and 132 mules, traveling over mountains, deserts and valleys. They arrived in Monterey on March 10, 1776, to spend several months before reaching their final destination of San Francisco. Fifty years ago, in 1976, Anza’s accomplishment was celebrated as part of the U.S. bicentennial, which was marked with parades, fireworks and reenactments of Revolutionary War victories. To celebrate the Anza expedition, people from Mexico to San Francisco, led by organizers from Monterey, organized to reenact the entire expedition on horseback over several months. They left Mexico City on Aug. 17, 1975, consisting of both U.S. and Mexican citizens. Hundreds of volunteers over several months took turns riding on horseback through Arizona and California as part of the reenactment. The 1975 event was front-page news—every town along the way cheered on the reenactors, and the many newspapers that proliferated at the time in small towns and large cities were committed to chronicling the trip. When the entourage entered Monterey County on March 6—the same date Anza led the expedition to Mission San Antonio in Jolon 200 years earlier—local newspapers splashed stories and photos across their pages. When it arrived in Monterey on March 10, travelers were met with a parade, followed by three days of celebratory activities before the expedition continued northward. In 2026, there are no elaborate commemorations or celebrations in Monterey County to mark the 250th anniversary of the Anza expedition, other than a small museum exhibit. An event and another exhibit are planned for May. There are a variety of reasons why the 250th anniversary is quieter this time. That Anza was a colonizer and part of the structure that coerced Indigenous people into the mission system is chief among them. In 1976, Anza and his expedition was romanticized as part of the founding of the U.S. Today, we look at history through a different lens, more cognizant of the price paid by the Indigenous people who lived here before westerners arrived on the scene. And yet, Anza’s expedition was a significant historical event in what was to become the founding of California by a diverse group of immigrants. How do we hold both truths? It was the early 1770s, and King Carlos III of Spain had a problem. His country had colonized Mexico in 1521, exploring Alta California to the north but holding off on its colonization until the 1760s, with Father Junipero Serra and the founding of the mission system. Now, other countries were pressing the boundaries. England occupied territory to the east of Louisiana and was a formidable sea power that could foreseeably come to California’s shores, while Russia was making noise to the north. “It was the needs of this Pacific Coast frontier that called forth from comparative obscurity Juan Bautista de Anza. Isolated and ill-supported, the new province needed overland communication with the settled mainland of Mexico and a strong colony to hold the threatened land,” Herbert Eugene Bolton wrote in his 1931 book, Outpost of an Empire. He described Anza, a captain in the Spanish army, as “tough as oak and silent as the desert from which he sprang.” Anza was a “criollos,” referring to people of Spanish descent born in New America. He was actually Anza II—his father was Juan Bautista de Anza I, a Spanish Army captain. He died in an Apache ambush in Sonora, Mexico in 1740, when his son was a few years old. Reportedly Anza I submitted his plans to the Spanish government to forge an overland route from Sonora to California about a year before his death. Over 30 years later, his son was charged with doing what his father never lived to accomplish. In 1774, Anza blazed an overland route from Sonora to San Francisco, using maps of Gaspar de Portolá’s earlier expeditions, which launched from Baja Mexico, as well as the well-worn trails of Indigenous peoples over centuries. In the first trip in 1774, Anza took 74 days to establish the new route from Tubac to San Francisco—it only took 23 days to get back. It was a key alternative to ships, which could take up to 60 days. Eager to secure the port of San Francisco, Anza’s superiors appointed him as commander of an expedition to lead a group of Spanish citizens to establish a colony. Anza proved to be well-equipped for the job, not only as a leader and explorer, but also as a skillful planner. His budget for $10,970 covered everything they would need including glass beads he used as gifts to Indigenous people they would encounter along the way. His budget also covered the costs for clothing, weapons, horses and mules, food and soldiers’ wages. Local archeologist and scholar Rubén Mendoza, a founding member Father Pedro Font served as the spiritual leader of the Anza expedition and as its mapmaker. His original map (left) showing the area of Alta California from Monterey to the San Francisco Bay Area was recreated in tile in 1935 in Triana, Seville Spain and donated to the City of Monterey by artist Edgar Walter. After 90 years of hanging on a garden wall outside of offices at City Hall, it was falling apart. The tile map (right) was reconstructed in Monterey in 2025 by artist Jos Sances in time for the 250th anniversary. Cousins Susie Gularte (left) and Julie Amaya walk along the Anza trail in San Juan Bautista. They descend from the same fifth-great-grandmother who was on the expedition and gave birth to a son on Dec. 24, 1775. As members of the California Mission Walkers, they led a 15-mile walk on March 7 from Salinas to San Juan Bautista to commemorate the expedition and share stories of their ancestors. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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