Editing Alta California (section)

====Province of Alta California====
In 1804, due to the growth of the Spanish population in new northern settlements, the province of Las Californias was divided just south of San Diego, following mission president Francisco Palóu's division between the Dominican and Franciscan jurisdictions. Governor [[Diego de Borica]] is credited with defining the border between Alta (upper) and [[Baja California#History|Baja (lower) California]]'s as [[Palóu Line|Palóu's division]], while the division became the political reality under [[José Joaquín de Arrillaga]], who would become the first governor of Alta California.<ref name="booksDdb">{{cite book |last=Field |first=Maria Antonia |title=Chimes of Mission Bells |publisher=Philopolis Press |year=1914 |location=San Francisco |chapter=California under Spanish Rule |chapter-url=http://www.books-about-california.com/Pages/Chimes_of_Mission_Bells/Chimes_of_Mission_Chap_04.html }}</ref><ref>Bancroft, H. H. (1970). History of California: Vol. II, 1801–1824, pp. 20–21. Santa Barbara Calif.: Wallace Hebberd. (Note: Bancroft translated the names of the two new provinces as "Antigua" and "Nueva", but Richman uses Baja and Alta – as on the 1847 map of Mexico.)</ref>

The ''cortes'' (legislature) of [[New Spain]] issued a decree in 1813 for at least partial secularization that affected all missions in America and was to apply to all outposts that had operated for ten years or more; however, the decree was never enforced in California.

The [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] of 1819, between the United States and Spain, established the northern limit of Alta California at latitude 42°N, which remains the boundary between the states of California, Nevada and Utah (to the south) and Oregon and Idaho (to the north) to this day. Mexico won independence in 1821, and Alta California became a territory of Mexico the next year.