California


 * __Genocide__**

California was one of the last areas of the New World to be colonized. It wasn’t until 1769 that the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, was built in California at present-day San Diego. It was the first of 21 missions, which would become the primary means for the Spaniards to subjugate the natives. The leader of this effort was Franciscan friar Junipero Serra.


 * __Diseases__**

California in the sixteenth century was unfortunately devastated with a few different diseases. These included smallpox, influenza, dysentery, malaria, measles, syphilis. By 1848, these diseases had "reduced California's native population by more than two-thirds."



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