Editing Mission San Buenaventura (section)

===Spanish Empire===
The founding of the San Buenaventura Mission traces to the decision on [[Palm Sunday]], March 30, 1749, by the Franciscan friar [[Junípero Serra|Junipero Serra]] to journey to the New World as a missionary to the native peoples.

Thirty-three years and one day later he raised the Cross at "la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara" (the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel) on Easter morning, March 31, 1782. Assisted by Pedro Benito Cambon, he celebrated a High Mass, preached on the Resurrection, and dedicated a mission to San Buenaventura (St. Bonaventure). It had been planned as the third in the chain<ref>{{Cite web|title=History - San Buenaventura Mission|url=https://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/history|access-date=2022-01-03|website=www.sanbuenaventuramission.org}}</ref> of twenty-one missions founded by Serra but was destined to be the ninth and last founded during his lifetime, and one of six he personally dedicated.

Under the direction of Friar Cambon, whom Serra left in charge of the new mission, a system of [[San Buenaventura Mission Aqueduct|aqueducts]] were built by the [[Chumash people]] between 1805 and 1815 to meet the needs of the Mission population and consisted of both ditches and elevated stone [[masonry]]. The watercourse ran from a point on the [[Ventura River]] about ½ mile north of the remaining ruins and carried the water to holding tanks behind the mission, a total of about {{convert|7|mi|km}}. With plentiful water, the mission was able to maintain flourishing orchards and gardens, which were described by |English navigator [[George Vancouver]] as the finest he had seen. The water distribution system was damaged by floods and abandoned in 1862.

The mission's first church was destroyed by fire in 1793. The construction of a second church was abandoned because "the door gave way." A permanent replacement was not able to be rebuilt until 1812.{{r|LAT 2014-09-06}} About the same time, the [[San Miguel Chapel Site|San Miguel Chapel]] and the [[Santa Gertrudis Chapel]] were completed.

A [[List of earthquakes in California|series of earthquakes]] and an accompanying [[seismic sea wave]] in 1812 forced the friars and Indian neophytes to seek temporary shelter a few miles inland. Six years later the friars had to remove sacred objects from the church and the whole mission flee into the hills to elude an attack led by Argentine pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard, who was pillaging the missions and had just conducted a successful attack against [[Mission San Juan Capistrano]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=California's Only Pirate - Hippolyte de Bouchard|url=http://californiamissionguide.com/california-mission-history/californias-pirate-hippolyte-de-bouchard/|access-date=2020-07-08|website=California Mission Guide|language=en-US}}</ref>