View source for Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó

{{Short description|17th century Spanish mission in Baja California Sur, Mexico}}
{{coord|25.861|N|111.544|W||display=title}}
[[Image:San javier mission 3 (39760880685).jpg|right|thumb|Mission San Javier]]
'''Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó''' was a Spanish mission in [[San Javier, Baja California Sur]], on the [[Baja California peninsula]]. It was built during the colonial era of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]].
The site is in present-day [[Loreto Municipality, Baja California Sur|Loreto Municipality]] of [[Baja California Sur]] state. The mission was located at {{coord|25|51|38|N|111|32|37|W}}.  San Francisco Javier mission was founded by [[Jesuits]] of the [[Roman Catholic]] church in 1699 and closed in 1817.
The missionary's objective was to convert the local [[Cochimí]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] (Indians) to [[Christianity]]. A mission church survives and is in use.
==Etymology==
The mission was dedicated to [[Francis Xavier]], a [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarrese]] [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[missionary]] and [[saint]] who was a co-founder of the [[Society of Jesus]].
==History==
The Jesuits established [[Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó]] in 1697 in [[Loreto, Baja California Sur|Loreto]], but it quickly became obvious that the Loreto site had too little water to be suitable for agriculture and, thus, could not become self-sustaining. The Jesuits were told by [[Cochimi people|Cochimi]] visitors to Loreto of potential agricultural land across the nearby [[Sierra de la Giganta]].  In May 1699 [[Francisco Maria Piccolo]], along with a dozen Cochimí guides and ten Spanish soldiers, crossed the mountains on horseback and entered the valley the Indians called Biaundó, about {{convert|20|km|mi}} inland from the [[Gulf of California]]. (The other part of the mission's name, Viggé, was the Cochimí word for "mountain.")  The inhabitants of a Cochimí [[rancheria]] at the site were friendly and Piccolo baptized 30 of their children.<ref>Crosby, Harry W. (1994), ''Antigua California,'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 43-49</ref>
In October 1699, Piccolo returned with a contingent of Spanish soldiers and Indian converts and began to construct the mission. Piccolo dedicated the mission on December 3, 1699, and San Francisco Javier (also Xavier) became the second most enduring mission established in Baja California.<ref>Burckhalter, David, Sedgwick, Mina, and Fonana, Bernard L. (2013), ''Baja California Missions,'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press, p. 21</ref> The mission was abandoned in 1701 because of a threatened Indian revolt, but reestablished by [[Juan de Ugarte]] in 1702. However, efforts to grow crops proved unsuccessful due to lack of water for irrigation and in 1710 the mission was moved a few kilometers south to its present location which had a dependable source of water from a spring. The energetic Ugarte constructed dams, aqueducts, and stone buildings. Between 1744 and 1758, [[Miguel del Barco]] was responsible for building what has been called "the jewel of the Baja California mission churches."<ref>Vernon, Edward W. (2002), ''Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California, 1683–1855''. Santa Barbara, California: Viejo Press, p. 26</ref>
==Native population==
The Cochimí were nomadic and semi-nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s who dwelt in the austere deserts and mountains of the central portion of the [[Baja California peninsula]]. The Cochimí were considered by the Jesuits to be less warlike and more accepting of missions and missionaries than their southern neighbors, the [[Guaycura people|Guaycura]] and [[Pericues]].<ref>Crosby, pp. 59, 93</ref>
Food given out by the Jesuits initially drew the Cochimí to the mission, but over the longer term, the missionaries attempted to make the Cochimí sedentary farmers and herders of domestic animals.<ref>Aschmann, Homer (1959), ''The Central Desert of Baja California: Demography and Ecology'', Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 24</ref>  However, the concentration of the population at the mission facilitated the spread of European diseases, such as [[smallpox]] and [[measles]]. The ravages of disease caused the native population to decline steadily in the 18th century. The mission had a population of 482 in 1768, but the numbers declined to 83 in 1808.<ref>Jackson, Robert H. (1981), "Epidemic Disease and Population Decline in the Baja California Missions," ''Southern California Quarterly'' Vol 63, No. 4, pp. 339-340</ref> In the 19th century, the Cochimí became extinct as a culture and identifiable people.
==Abandonment==
By 1817, the mission was deserted. The church has been restored and is now maintained by [[Mexico]]'s [[National Institute of Anthropology and History]]. The village of [[San Javier, Baja California Sur|San Javier]] at the site of the former mission had a population of 131 in 2010.<ref>[http://mapserver.inegi.org.mx/mgn2k/?s=geo&c=1223 2010 census tables: INEGI] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502025339/http://mapserver.inegi.org.mx/mgn2k/?s=geo&c=1223 |date=2013-05-02 }}: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía y Informática</ref> Several introduced plant species continue to exist or to be grown at the mission: [[date palm]]s, [[grapes]], [[citrus]], and, notably, ancient [[olive]] trees.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}
{{Panorama|image=Image:Misión_San_Francisco_Javier_-_side_exterior_270_pano.jpg |fullwidth=17751 |fullheight=3731 |caption=North side exterior of Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó. The mission appears on the left amongst its oasis surroundings of palm trees and mountain ranges. 270° Panorama|height=300}}
{{Panorama|image=Image:Misión_San_Francisco_Javier-_interior_-_360_pano.jpg |fullwidth=15000 |fullheight=4562 |caption=Interior of Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó with Christmas decorations, [[San Javier, Baja California Sur]], 360° Panorama |height=300}}
==See also==
* [[Spanish missions in Baja California]]
* [[List of Jesuit sites]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* Vernon, Edward W. 2002. ''Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California, 1683–1855''. Viejo Press, Santa Barbara, California.
==External links==
{{Commons category||Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó}}
* [http://virtualguidebooks.com/Baja/BajaSur/SanJavier/NorthWestSanJavier_S.php Virtual Reality Panorama of "The Stone Church at Mission San Javier"]
* [http://virtualguidebooks.com/Baja/BajaSur/SanJavier/InsideSanJavier_S.php Virtual Reality Panorama "Inside the Mission Church at San Javier"]
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{{Baja California Missions}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Missions in Baja California Sur|San Francisco Javier De Vigge-Biaundo]]
[[Category:Loreto Municipality (Baja California Sur)]]
[[Category:Spanish Colonial architecture in Mexico]]
[[Category:1699 establishments in New Spain]]