Editing San Juan Bautista, California (section)

==History==
[[File:San Juan Bautista, CA USA - Old Mission SJB - panoramio (56).jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|Statue of [[Fermín de Lasuén]], founder of San Juan Bautista.]]
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area around San Juan Bautista was populated by the [[Mutsun]], a tribe of the [[Ohlone|Ohlone Nation]] of [[Indigenous Californians]]. The Mutsuns lived in villages in the area around San Juan Bautista, in settlements composed of thatched huts made of willow and native grasses.

===Spanish period===
In 1797, the [[Spanish people|Spanish]] [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] priest fray [[Fermín de Lasuén]] founded [[Mission San Juan Bautista]] to facilitate the conversion of the native people to [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]]; in the process, he claimed the land for the [[Spanish Empire]]. Lasuén chose the site because of the area's fertile cropland, steady water supply, and sizable Indian population.

Construction of the current mission church began in 1803, and it has served the community continuously since 1812. The mission was located on the [[El Camino Real (California)|Camino Real]], a "royal highway" which connected the [[Spanish Missions in California|California missions]] and which remained well-used until the 19th century.

===Mexican period===
[[File:Casa de Anza 4250 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Juan de Anza House|Casa Juan de Anza]], built in 1830, is the oldest residence in San Juan.]]
In 1821, Mexico [[Mexican War of Independence|revolted]] against Spain, winning independence for itself, and making California a province of the newly independent [[Mexico]]. By 1834, a town known as San Juan de Castro had sprouted up around the mission. It drew its name from the town's prominent ''[[alcalde]]'' José Tiburcio Castro. In 1834 the mission was [[Secularization|secularized]], and Castro appointed executor of the property. Accordingly, he divided and auctioned off the former mission properties. His son, [[José Castro]], built the Castro Adobe on the south side of the Plaza de San Juan in 1840; however, Castro's frequent involvement in government kept him from spending much time there. Castro was a key member of the overthrow of governors [[Nicolás Gutiérrez]] in 1836 and [[Manuel Micheltorena]] in 1844.
[[File:San Juan Bautista, California (c. 1856).jpg|thumb|left|View of San Juan Bautista in 1856.]]
After defeating Micheltorena and his ill-equipped army, José Antonio Castro was appointed Comandante General of California, in charge of the [[Mexican Army]]'s operations in California. From San Juan Bautista, Castro ordered the army against potential foreign incursions. He kept especially close watch over the movements of [[John C. Frémont]], an American military officer who had been let into California to conduct a survey of the interior. Though given explicit instructions to stay away from coastal settlements, Frémont soon broke the agreement by taking his team to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], a potential military target. When Castro told Frémont he would have to leave the country, the situation came close to war when he obstinately refused to leave and instead set up a base on [[Gavilán Peak]], overlooking the town of San Juan. However, fighting was avoided and Frémont, grudgingly, withdrew.

===American period===
[[File:View of San Juan Bautista, California (c. 1905).jpg|thumb|left|View of San Juan Bautista in 1905.]]
San Juan Bautista incorporated as a city on May 4, 1896.

In June 1904, early aviation pioneer [[John J. Montgomery]] made a series of successful test flights using his tandem-wing glider in San Juan. This was a prototype to his 1905 gliders that were used to make the first successful high-altitude flights in heavier-than-air flying machines in the world.

Recently, using old photographs and eyewitness accounts, researchers were able to estimate the location of the [[hypocenter]] of the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] as offshore from San Francisco, or near the city of San Juan Bautista, confirming previous estimates.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://gizmodo.com/how-scientists-used-a-1906-photo-to-find-the-center-of-1832208787 |title = How Scientists Used a 1906 Photo to Find the Center of San Francisco's Most Infamous Earthquake| date=January 30, 2019 }}</ref>

In 1930, the last native speaker of [[Mutsun]], Ascención Solórzano de Cervantes, died, rendering the Mutsun language extinct.

In 1971, [[Luis Valdez]] moved [[El Teatro Campesino]], one of the most important cultural institutions of the [[Chicano Movement]], to San Juan. Initially, they only had use of La Calavera Theatre, but eventually also built out a larger theatre, simply known as El Teatro Campesino.