adobeUnbaked brick of earth, left out in the sun to harden. Adobe is the Spanish word for mud brick.
Alta CaliforniaUpper California, held by Spain and then by Mexico. Mexico made it a territory in 1822.
El Camino RealThe road that linked the missions, forts and towns. The name is Spanish for the Royal Road; the route runs about 600 miles, from San Diego to Sonoma.
expeditionA journey by an organized party sent out for a purpose. In 1769 the first Spanish parties traveled north from Baja California to San Diego.
land grantA gift of land from a government to a person. After secularization, most mission land went out in large grants for ranchos.
missionA settlement founded by priests to convert Native people. The missions of Alta California ran farms, herds and workshops as well as a church.
missionarySomeone who goes abroad to teach their faith to others. The missionaries of Alta California were priests of the Franciscan order.
New SpainSpain's empire in North America, ruled from Mexico City. Alta California was its far northwestern frontier.
presidioA fort that housed Spanish soldiers. Alta California had four: at San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco and Santa Barbara.
puebloA town of settlers, apart from the missions and forts. San Jose, founded in 1777, was the first pueblo of Alta California.
ranchoA very large cattle ranch of Spanish or Mexican California. The governments of Spain and then Mexico gave out rancho lands between 1775 and 1846.
secularizationMoving the missions out of the church's control. Ten missions were secularized in 1834, six in 1835 and the last five in 1836.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Buildings and work 12
bell towerThe tower of a church where its bells hang. Mission bells rang for meals, for work and for services.
brandA mark burned into an animal's skin to show its owner. Branding was first done with a hot iron.
granaryA building for storing grain after the harvest. Granaries are often raised off the ground to keep the grain from spoiling.
hideThe skin of a cow or other large animal. Trading ships came to the California coast for hides.
kilnAn oven hot enough to harden clay bricks and tiles. Mission kilns also fired pots and dishes.
orchardRows of fruit trees tended for their crop. Mission orchards grew oranges, peaches, pears, figs and olives.
quadrangleFour rows of buildings around an open square. A mission's kitchens, workshops, storerooms and living quarters were usually laid out this way.
roof tileA slab of baked clay laid on a roof to shed rain. Tile roofs took the place of roofs of packed reeds.
tallowHard fat from cattle, used to make candles and soap. At the missions it was melted in large vats.
tanneryA workshop that turns raw animal skins into leather. Tanners long used tannin, which comes from the bark of certain trees.
vineyardA field where grapevines are grown. The grape the missionaries brought from Spain is still called the Mission grape.
zanjaA ditch dug to bring water to fields and buildings. Zanja is a Spanish word for a ditch; some mission zanjas ran for miles.
Peoples and places 12
acornThe nut that falls from an oak, capped by a woody cup. Leached of its bitter acids and ground into meal, it was a staple food of most Native peoples of California.
CalifornioA Spanish-speaking Californian of the years before 1848. Californio families held the large land grants of the rancho years.
ChumashA coastal people who built plank canoes called tomols. Their homelands are the coast around Santa Barbara and three of the Channel Islands.
KumeyaayThe Native people of the San Diego region. Their homelands lie on both sides of the border between California and Mexico.
MontereyThe capital of Spanish and Mexican California. It was made the capital in 1777.
neophyteThe missions' name for a baptized Native person. Neophytes were required to live at the mission or in a settlement it ran.
OhloneA people once called Costanoan, or coast dwellers. Their homelands reach from San Francisco Bay south past Monterey Bay.
San DiegoSite of the first mission, founded in 1769. A presidio was founded there the same year.
SonomaSite of the last and most northern mission, of 1823. It was the only mission founded after Mexico's independence from Spain.
TongvaA people of the Los Angeles area, once in up to 100 villages. Their homelands cover the basin around Los Angeles and the southern group of the Channel Islands.
tuleA giant sedge that grows in freshwater marshes. Tule reeds were made into boats.
vaqueroA mounted herdsman in the ranching tradition of New Spain. The word buckaroo may come from vaquero.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-12. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the English Wikipedia article on the term (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Spanish missions in California (read whole), Presidio, Presidio of San Diego, Pueblo de Los Ángeles, San Jose (California), Ranchos of California, Adobe, El Camino Real (California), Alta California, New Spain, Missionary, Mexican Secularization Act of 1833, Land grant, Quadrangle (architecture), Bell tower, Granary, Tanning (leather), Kiln, Zanja, Mission (grape), Tallow, Hide (skin), Livestock branding, California hide trade, Kumeyaay, Tongva, Chumash people, Ohlone, Tomol, Vaquero, Californios, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, Monterey (California), Mission San Francisco Solano, Schoenoplectus acutus (tule) and Acorn. Adobe, presidio, rancho, missionary, expedition, orchard, vineyard, tallow, hide, brand, granary, tannery, kiln, tile, zanja, neophyte, vaquero, Californio, tule and acorn were checked against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), under the same license. The history in the meanings and the facts was checked a second time against the essays Spanish California, The Missions, Mexican California and The First Peoples of California in Early California History: An Overview, published by the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/collections/california-first-person-narratives/articles-and-essays/early-california-history/). The fact after each meaning is in our own words. Licence: own work
How it works
A California missions worksheet for 4th grade history: twelve terms of the mission years, from mission, presidio and pueblo to rancho and adobe, to match to their meanings, with an answer key as the last page.
Read the full guide
Buildings and work
In Set, the second sheet walks around a mission and its fields: quadrangle, bell tower, granary, tannery, kiln, roof tile, zanja, orchard, vineyard, tallow, hide and brand.
Peoples and places
The third has four Native peoples of the mission coast, Kumeyaay, Tongva, Chumash and Ohlone, with neophyte, vaquero, Californio, San Diego, Monterey, Sonoma, tule and acorn. Under the tool each term has a fact from the history, checked against Wikipedia and essays of the Library of Congress.
These sheets are vocabulary only: they do not tell how the missions changed life for the Native peoples of California.
Questions and answers
How many California missions are there?
Twenty-one. They stand along the coast from San Diego, founded in 1769, to Sonoma, founded in 1823, and the road that linked them is called El Camino Real.
What is the difference between a mission, a presidio and a pueblo?
They were Spain's three kinds of settlement in Alta California. A mission was run by priests, a presidio was a fort for soldiers, and a pueblo was a town for settlers, such as San Jose and Los Angeles.
When did the California missions end?
Mexico, independent of Spain since 1821, passed a law in 1833 that took the missions out of the Franciscans' control. It was carried out over the next three years, and many new ranchos were then granted.