Causes Of Portola's Exploration Of California

Spain fears British encroachment along the coast of California. The fear of the British led to Spain’s expansion of their empire over the coast of California. Spain had sent Gaspar de Portola to lead this expedition. Portola and his crew planned to colonize the area around Monterey and San Diego, but his plan resulted in failure due to the thick coastal fog. Although his plan was a failure, his exploration of the San Francisco Bay and the establishment of Franciscan missions affects today's current events. Portola's failure to discover Monterey Bay led to increased land exploration, encountering new unfamiliar territory, and an exchange of cultural ideas with the Native Americans.
Portola expedition led to increase land claims around California.
He knows that the Monterey Bay was something special, he knows that the Monterey Bay was “one of the world’s great bays, a natural harbor vastly superior to Monterey Bay and clearly benefitting Spain’s new colonial ambition” (The Discovery of San Francisco Bay). Although he had failed many times, Portola has a strong desire to explore the Monterey Bay, which led to increase exploration of California. Portola and his men had encountered hunger, thirst, and death along the way, yet he is still willing to pursue his expedition. One of his men had asked Portola about his motives about the expedition, and he responded with “follow the mountain range along the coast in order to be the first to discover the of Monterey” (Diary of the Portolá Expedition). Portola's ambition was to be the first explorer to discover the port of Monterey; he hopes that his discovery would really help the Spanish empire, which is why he never gave up on his expedition, even though they had faced difficulties on his journey. Gaspar de Portola has many inspirations, he had an ambition that kept him going no matter what they had encountered, others wanted to give up, yet Portola refused. His ambition led to expansion of the Spanish empire due to the exploration of
Portola had been suffering hunger and thirst from the journey, so they would try hard to survive which opened up trade with the Native Americans. Along the way, Spain would conquer new territories in order for them to expand its empire; they would build outposts and missions all over California. One of the purposes for outposts and missions was to, “spread Christian faith across the land, irreparably transforming the native population” (Gaspar De Portola). Spain's encroachment along the coast of California helped them exchange new cultural ideas; this benefited the Spanish because more and more natives are transforming the native population.
The Portola expedition was not really much of a failure. Although Portola's goal was to discover the port of Monterey Bay, he still managed to be the first explorer to ever reach the San Francisco Bay. His journey led to increase land exploration which he encounters new unfamiliar territories and exchanging cultural ideas with the Natives. Portola had found most parts of the California; he had named most of the towns, cities that still exist in present day California. Without his findings, California would not be the same as the present day