The Palóu Line was the boundary between

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva 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 was made a separat ...

and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, demarcated by Franciscan missionary,

Francisco Palóu 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 and Baja California miss ...

to distinguish

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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

California Historical Society Quarterly The California Historical Society (CHS) was the official historical society A historical society is non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and promoting the history of a particular place, group of people, or ...

'': 321–27. doi:10.2307/25177843.

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

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 () was a Spanish mission established on 28 March 1787 by the Dominican missionary Luis Sales among t ...

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

the Californias The Californias (), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the 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 states of Baja California a ...

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 mar ...

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 officer who served twice as Governor of the Californias and as the first Governor of Alta California, following the partition of the Californias in 1804. He was the only Spanish-era governor to be buried ...

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 officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

, 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 that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and the Mexican state of

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

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

, and

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico–United States border, Mexico–US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area ha ...

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