Miguel Costansó
Miguel Costansó (1741–1814), original name Miquel Constançó, was a Catalan engineer, cartographer and cosmographer. He joined the expedition of exploration of Alta California led by Gaspar de Portolá and Junípero Serra, serving aboard ship as cartographer and on land as engineer.
Biography
Costansó was born in Barcelona in 1741.[1] After serving in the Spanish infantry in coastal Catalonia and Granada, he entered the corps of military engineers in 1762 with the rank of second lieutenant. In August 1764, along with six other military engineers, Costansó voyaged from Spain to Veracruz, Mexico (New Spain), where they formed a brigade. From 1764 to 1767, Costansó mapped the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from his base in Veracruz. Upon his own petition, he was selected to travel to Sonora as engineer for the expedition headed by brigadier Domingo Elizondo to suppress Indian rebels. He served about a year in that campaign, charting battle plans and taking topographic measurements used in later maps.[2]
Summoned from Sonora by New Spain's visitador (inspector general)
Gálvez and Costansó then sailed across the
Voyage from Baja California to San Diego
Joining the expedition headed by
Observations of Kumeyaay Indians
Upon recovering from the ill effects of the voyage, Costansó set about fulfilling the instructions of
"The men are entirely naked. The women cover their private parts with double nets cinched at the waist and reaching to the middle of their thighs. At times they also use a kind of little cape made of strips of fur interlaced and twisted. All randomly stain and paint themselves of various colors, among which…they prefer that of red and ochre. Some use lead-colored black and they look hideous. These are people of little ambition and they recognize our superiority in weapons and in all the rest…"[6]
"There are no thick tree trunks in this land with which they can make canoes," Costansó continued, "but they supplement the lack of these with balsa rafts made from cattails whose reeds are tied together with ixtle fiber. With these they maneuver and can enter the estuaries and beaches of the port to spearfish or fish. They use a short double-bladed paddle and row with the greatest agility from one side to the other. Each raft cannot hold more than one man, who sits in the middle over a little stack of hay with legs crossed. They always get their buttocks wet, but it does not matter much to them."[7]
Costansó and Fages explored a canyon, along with friars Juan Crespí and Juan Vizcaíno and six soldiers, to see how far it cut inland. Along the way, they found an Indian village consisting of around 75 families. "These people received us with a thousand demonstrations of happiness and joy," wrote Costansó, "because they recognized us and had visited us on various occasions. They told us by signs that they would look for rabbits and hares for us to eat, with the understanding that we would give them ñipas, which is what they call our clothes. They later went into the woods and, in less than three hours, brought us a substantial amount of game that we took in exchange for cloth."[7]
Portolá expedition up the California coast
On July 14, 1769, Costansó set out from San Diego with a party of 74 men on the Portolá expedition to locate Monterey Bay. The party included lieutenant Pedro Fages with his Catalan volunteers; captain Fernando Rivera; leather-jacketed soldiers; Christian Indians from Baja California; and friars Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez.[8] The party failed to find Monterey Bay. According to governor/commander Portolá, Costansó — as well as Fages and Rivera — urged him to search farther north for Monterey.[9] Costansó's tenacity enabled him to reach San Francisco Bay, which he became the first person to map professionally.
Along the way, Costansó observed plants, animals and the local astronomy, recording his findings in his diary; he also noted details about the Indians' customs. His reports of the expedition were later published widely, including translations into English and German. On January 24, 1770, the 74 hungry and exhausted men of the Portolá expedition — including Costansó — returned to San Diego, to a warm welcome from their fellow soldiers and friars.
Voyage to Monterey
On April 16, 1770, Costansó — along with friar
Return to Mexico
On July 9, 1770 Costansó, along with
In 1772, the new viceroy
Following prevailing military regulations, Costansó petitioned for permission to marry in 1776. A little over a year later, his superiors granted his request to marry Manuela de Aso y Otal, a woman from a wealthy family in Mexico.[12]
Design and construction projects in Mexico
Once settled back in Mexico, Costansó worked as an engineer in the service of New Spain for over 40 years. He took charge of the construction of the Hospital General de San Andrés. In 1772 he launched a project to construct a new building for the Real Casa de Moneda (royal currency house or mint), a project that occupied him for eight years. At a time when Spanish rulers felt their empire threatened by British naval power, Costansó helped shore up New Spain's (Mexico's) military defenses. He surveyed and reported on major damage done to the Fort of San Diego at Acapulco Bay by a 1776 earthquake. His pentagonal design for a new fort got approved in 1777 and slightly modified in the subsequent rebuilding of the fort, which served as the main defense of Mexico's Pacific coast. By order of viceroy Mayorga in 1779, Costansó began work on a new powder factory in the pueblo of Santa Fe near Mexico City — a project that lasted over two years. Drafting plans for roadways, he supervised the paving of streets and leveling of paths in Mexico. He served as a consultant on the draining of Lake Chalco to supply water for Mexico City. He designed a tobacco factory, cock-fighting arena, botanical gardens, house of mercy, fountains for Mexico City's main plazas, and the Academy of San Carlos for the study of fine arts, where he became a professor of geometry.[13]
Plan to settle artisans in coastal California
In the late 1780s, officials in New Spain (Mexico) asked Costansó for advice on how to bolster the small colonies of people who had migrated from Mexico to settle near new Catholic missions along the California coast. The California missions and pueblos needed skilled artisans in particular. Costansó proposed that each immigrant artisan spend at least four years teaching mission Indians, while receiving a salary and rations according to his line of work and the size of his family. After an artisan finished his four-year teaching commitment — suggested Costansó — he should receive land, cattle, and other goods as inducements to settle permanently in California. Costansó recommended sending artisans to California along with their families, and encouraging bachelor artisans to marry.[14]
Acting on Costansó's proposal, New Spain officials sent around 20 artisans to California starting 1792. A few of them settled permanently in California, but most returned to Mexico once their contracts expired. The
Vision of Indian assimilation into Hispanic society
In 1794, Costansó wrote a report to New Spain's viceroy
Urging the viceroy to promote migration of Spanish/Mexican civilians to California, Costansó suggested that the king provide those colonists with tools and farming equipment. "By such a measure," Costansó added, "the Indians, aided by the paternal love and Christian zeal of His Majesty, will receive a training capable of making them as happy in temporal matters as in the spiritual… But without trades and industry, the Indians will never be able to be men and useful vassals."[17]
Costansó envisioned mission Indians assimilating into New Spanish society through intermarriage and adoption of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture: "Experience has demonstrated the fertility of the Spaniards and of the persons of mixed blood in this kingdom is much greater than that of the Indians. Perhaps this is so because when [the Indians] are reduced to a civilized life or to a less wild existence, they procreate much less; or because when they intermarry with Spaniards or white persons, there is generally produced from the second or third generation some individuals who barely have a trace of Indian since they are reared among Spaniards — and their language, habits and customs no longer differ from ours."[18]
Reference Notes
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, p. 3.
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, pp. 3-4.
- ^ Michael E. Thurman, The Naval Department of San Blas. A. H. Clark Company, 1967, p. 62.
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, p. 5.
- ^ Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, pp. 200, 207.
- ^ "Pedro Fages and Miguel Costansó: Two Early Letters From San Diego in 1769". Journal of San Diego History, vol. 21, no. 2, spring 1975. Translated and edited by Iris Wilson Engstrand.
- ^ a b Letter from Miguel Costansó to José de Gálvez, San Diego, June 28, 1769. Journal of San Diego History, vol. 21, no. 2, spring 1975.
- ^ Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, p. 232.
- ^ Gaspar de Portolá. "Diario del viage" (Diary of the Trip), APCH: Publications, vol. 1, pp. 84-89.
- ^ Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, pp. 245-7.
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, pp. 11-12.
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, p. 11.
- ^ Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, pp. 9-11.
- ^ "Copia de las condiciones propuestas á S.E. por el Ingeniero 2º Miguel Costanzo para las contratas de artesanos…," manuscript copy, Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley, CA-55.
- ^ Hubert Howe Bancroft (1884). History of California: 1542-1800. Vol. 1. History Company. p. 615.
- ^ "Costansó's 1794 Report on Strengthening New California's Presidios," translated by Manuel P. Servín. California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 1970, pp. 224, 226.
- ^ "Costansó's 1794 Report on Strengthening New California's Presidios," translated by Manuel P. Servín. California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 1970, p. 226.
- ^ "Costansó's 1794 Report on Strengthening New California's Presidios," translated by Manuel P. Servín. California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 1970, p. 227.
Sources
- Janet R. Fireman and Manuel P. Servín, "Miguel Costansó: California's Forgotten Founder." California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, March 1970, pp. 3–19.[1]
- "Costansó's 1794 Report on Strengthening New California's Presidios," translated by Manuel P. Servín. California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 1970, pp. 221–232.[2]
- «Diario Histórico» (1770)
- «Diario del viaje de tierra hecho al norte de la California» (1770)
See also
- Companyia Franca de Voluntaris de Catalunya
- Badia de San Francisco
External links
- "Pedro Fages and Miguel Costansó: Two Early Letters From San Diego in 1769"[3] Journal of San Diego History, vol. 21, no. 2, spring 1975. Translated and edited by Iris Wilson Engstrand.
- Diary of the Portolá Expedition, 1769-70, by Miguel Costansó.
- Miguel Costansó; Manuel Carpio (1911). Frederick John Teggart (ed.). The Portola Expedition of 1769-1770, Diary of Miguel Costanso. University of California.