Mark Hylkema, Santa Cruz District archaeologist and CA State Park ranger, presented this lively and interesting talk at the "220 Years Villa de Branciforte" celebration on 22 July, 2017, organized by the Villa de Branciforte Preservation Society with Ed Silveira, and Bria Steinbruner, a student at AFE, one of the Branciforte Small Schools.
Mark begins with the first Spanish explorers conquering the Aztecs, and tells about the Portolá expedition in 1769, when California suddenly went from prehistory to history, like "the flip of a switch."
The many native tribes had managed the land for thousands of years for bountiful harvests of acorns and grass seeds. The "Ohlone" alone consisted of 50 tribes with 7 different languages. The villages welcomed the strangers with celebrations and food.
A hundred years later, the Spanish mission system, with presidios, missions, and pueblos, had put an end to their tribal land use and way of life. About 100,000 native people, nearly one third of the population, had died as a direct consequence of the missions of California.
After Mission Santa Cruz (1791), Villa de Branciforte was founded in 1797 as a secular town on the Camino Real.
The first part of the presentation was augmented by Dorothee Ledbetter with more pictures.