The Palóu Line was the boundary between

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, demarcated by Franciscan missionary,

Francisco Palóu Francesc Palou (in Catalan) or Francisco Palóu (1723–1789) was a Spanish Franciscan missionary, administrator and historian on the Baja California Peninsula and in Alta California. Palóu made significant contributions to the Alta California ...

to distinguish

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

and Dominican areas of mission control during the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

colonial era.Hendry, George W. (1926). "Francisco Palou's Boundary Marker". ''

California Historical Society Quarterly The California Historical Society (CHS) is the official historical society of California. It was founded in 1871, by a group of prominent Californian intellectuals at Santa Clara University. It was officially designated as the Californian state ...

'': 321–27. doi:10.2307/25177843.

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

25177843.

History

In 1772,

was tasked with establishing a boundary between the

and Dominican orders in the Californias.Rosarito Historical Society, Baja California A.C. at The Mission, Baja California, on 20 May 1990. Fieldwork and research: . Monument donation: Mario Reyes Coronado De Villasari & family . Construction: Students of the School of Tourism at U.A.B.C.(Autonomous University of Baja California) The boundary between the Dominican Baja California missions and the Franciscan missions of Alta California was set in 1773. Palou erected a large cross on a rock called "Mesa del Descanso", which would mark the latitude towards the Colorado River, establishing the jurisdictional boundary between the Dominican and Franciscan missionary operations. The boundary marker is located north of the

Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera :''Another mission bearing the name San Miguel Arcángel is the Mission San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel, California.'' Mission San Miguel ( es, Misión San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera) was a Spanish mission established on 28 March 1787 ...

, with the inscription on the boundary marker translated from Spanish stated:Due to the growth of the Hispanic population in

the Californias The Californias (Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican stat ...

in the late 1700s, the

Diego de Borica Diego de Borica (1742–1800) was a Basque colonial Governor of the Californias, from 1794 to 1800. Family Diego de Borica y Retegui was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz to a family connected to Father Fermín de Lasuén's. In 1780 Diego de Borica marr ...

administration started defining the Palóu Line as the division between Baja California and Alta California. It was under the

José Joaquín de Arrillaga José Joaquín de Arrillaga was a Basque people, Basque officer that served twice as Governor of the Californias and as the first Governor of Alta California, following the partition of the Californias in 1804. He is the only Spanish-era governor ...

administration in 1804, when the boundary became the political reality. The province of Las Californias, then a part of the Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces, was divided into two separate territorial administrations following Palóu's division between the Dominican and Franciscan missions, creating the new territories of

and

. Arrillaga was then appointed as the first governor of Alta California. The codification of the

Siete Leyes ''Las Siete Leyes'' (, or Seven Laws was a constitution that fundamentally altered the organizational structure of Mexico, away from the federal structure established by the Constitution of 1824, thus ending the First Mexican Republic and creating ...

amendments to the Mexican Constitution of would dissolve the boundary between Baja California and Alta California as they would merge to become the Department of the Californias. After the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

, a new border would be set between Baja California and Alta California, shifting the border north of the Palóu line to become the US-Mexican border between the US state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and the Mexican state of

. Granting land formerly administered by Alta California where the modern day cities of

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...

, and

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico-US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area has a population of 132,406 inha ...

are located, to Baja California's administration."Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo". ''Ourdocuments.gov''. 1848. Retrieved December 6, 2014.

References

Boundary markers Baja California History of California Ensenada Municipality Mexicali Municipality