Alta California, the present-day state of California, was claimed for Spain by explorer Juan Cabrillo in 1534. (Hence Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro today.) Spain paid little attention to this distant possession for the next two hundred years. By the middle of the 18th century, Britain and Russia were expanding their claims to territory along the Pacific Coast of North America. Charles III decided it was time to enforce Spain's claim to Alta California. In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá was dispatched to lead an expedition northward from Loreto in Baja California and establish a permanent garrison at Monterrey Bay. A company of Soldados de Cuervo (Spanish colonial troops who wore a distinctive leather jacket), and Franciscan missionaries set out on an overland trek to a place as described two hundred years previously. The route they followed
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