Branciforte
Encyclopedia
Branciforte or as it was named originally, Villa de Branciforte, was a secular pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...

 established by the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in the of Las Californias
Las Californias
The Californias, or in — - was the name given by the Spanish to their northwestern territory of New Spain, comprising the present day states of Baja California and Baja California Sur on the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico; and the present day U.S. state of California in the United States of...

 Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in 1797 on the eastern bluff overlooking the San Lorenzo River
San Lorenzo River
The San Lorenzo River drains a large watershed in Santa Cruz County, California. The headwaters originate in the Santa Cruz Mountains at an elevation of , and the river flows through the San Lorenzo Valley before emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Monterey Bay...

. It has now been incorporated into the city of Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

 in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

The present day Branciforte Small Schools Campus (BSSC) building is located at what was the center of the Villa de Branciforte. A California State historical marker, number 469, is located outside of the building, too, at the corner of Water Street and Branciforte Avenue.

History

Villa de Branciforte was founded under the direction of Las Californias Governor Diego de Borica
Diego de Borica
Diego de Borica was a Spanish explorer and the seventh Governor of Las Californias from 1794 to 1800, and is credited with defining Alta- and Baja-California's official borders.-Biography:...

 and the Viceroy of New Spain Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca y Branciforte, marqués de Branciforte
Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca y Branciforte, marqués de Branciforte
Don Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca de Carini y Branciforte, 1st Marqués de Branciforte was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from July 12, 1794 to May 31, 1798. He is known as one of the most corrupt viceroys in the history of the colony...

, after whom the settlement was named, and was founded as part of Spain's strategy to protect upper California against other European countries such as Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 that were trying to gain this Californian territory by luring retired soldiers and settlers to this province. In the colonial history of Spain, the settlement was somewhat unique in that its original civilian population was not bound to the church or the military. Unlike the Spanish Missions, the villa was secular.

From its very inception in 1797 the Villa met with great obstacles. The funds were not adequate, and the enterprise failed to attract any retired soldiers. In their stead, a motley group of convicts who were banished from New Spain formed the initial group of colonists, and although the missionaries at Mission Santa Cruz
Mission Santa Cruz
Mission Santa Cruz was established in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, the name that the explorer Gaspar de Portolà gave to the area when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross...

 protested bitterly against this pueblo being situated so close to their domain, the town received the official backing.

The first eight settlers came from Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...

, New Spain—Mexico, and were running to escape the law. They found nothing of what they had been promised. Expecting to find the town already built to accommodate them, they found they had to build their own rough dwellings with little tools or provisions. In the end the Villa de Branciforte never resembled the neatly laid out plans for streets and buildings its planners envisioned. Furthermore, it never lived up to its expectations, and in 1802, the town itself lost the support of the Crown, and supplies ceased to arrive.

In 1803, about five years after the villa was established the settlers attempted to establish a government by electing an alcade or mayor. This election was most likely the first election ever held in the Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...

 territory. After this, the citizens of the Villa de Branciforte began to spread over the country.

Ever since the first days, many of its residents, whom the narratives and chronicles denounce as "lazy" and prone to vices and crime, decided to move to other, more prosperous settlements like the Pueblo of San José. There were also constant problems with the missionaries at the adjacent Mission Santa Cruz
Mission Santa Cruz
Mission Santa Cruz was established in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, the name that the explorer Gaspar de Portolà gave to the area when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross...

 over grazing rights, and the corrupting influence of the settlers on the neophytes at the Mission. For the first few years the population actually declined.

In 1818, when the pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard
Hippolyte de Bouchard
Hippolyte de Bouchard, or Hipólito de Bouchard , was a French and Argentine sailor and corsair who fought for Argentina, Chile, and Peru....

 threatened to attack the California coast in support of the independence struggles raging in the Americas, the residents of Branciforte were reluctantly called upon to defend the Mission against sacking while the padres and neophytes took flight in other Missions further inland. When Bouchard arrived, he did not sack Santa Cruz but instead it was the residents of Branciforte who looted and stole from the mission even the clothes from the saints adorning the church. The missionaries and neophytes came back to find the whole place ransaked, but it was soon discovered who the culprits had really been. This event deepened the mistrust both the communities held for each other.

By 1831 however, Branciforte had a population of about two hundred people which was mostly made up of merchants, explorers, and retired soldiers.

The Branciforte Adobe
Branciforte Adobe
The Branciforte Adobe, also known as the Craig-Lorenzana Adobe, is the only remaining dwelling from the Villa de Branciforte, the settlement that was established in 1797 at the time of the Mission Santa Cruz....

is the only remaining building in Santa Cruz from this period.
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