Sigismundo Taraval, SJ (1700–1763) was a pioneering Italian Jesuit missionary in

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 ...

who wrote important historical accounts of the peninsula. Born in

Lodi, Lombardy Lodi ( , ; Ludesan: ) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, northern Italy, primarily on the western bank of the River Adda. It is the capital of the province of Lodi. History Lodi was a Celtic village; in Roman times it was called, in La ...

, he served initially as missionary at La Purísima (1730–1732) and

San Ignacio San Ignacio (the Spanish language name of St. Ignatius (disambiguation), St. Ignatius) is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken: Argentina * San Ignacio, Argentina, Misiones Province * San Ignacio Miní, a ...

(1732-1733), among the

Cochimí The Cochimí were the indigenous inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south. Information on Cochimí customs and beliefs has been preserved in the brief observatio ...

. A notable episode while he was at San Ignacio was the bringing of the inhabitants of

Cedros Island Cedros Island (''Isla de Cedros'', "island of cedars" in Spanish (language), Spanish) is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the state of Baja California, Mexico. The dry and rocky island had a population of 1,350 in 2005 and has an area ...

to the mission. In a relatively detailed account of the islanders' aboriginal lifeways, Taraval presented what were perhaps the earliest speculations concerning the region's prehistoric past. In 1733 he was sent south to found the Misión Santa Rosa de las Palmas at the modern site of Todos Santos. The following year, the local Pericú and Guaycura Indians staged a serious revolt against Jesuit rule, and Taraval was forced to flee, first to

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bo ...

and then to

Isla Espíritu Santo Isla Espíritu Santo is an uninhabited island in the Gulf of California, off the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. It is separated from Isla Partida by a narrow canal. Together, the islands are part of La Paz Municipality, Baja California ...

. He wrote a detailed if partisan account of the revolt and its subsequent suppression. Subsequently, Taraval later served at the southern missions of

San José del Cabo San José del Cabo (, ''Saint Joseph of the Cape'') is a city located in southern Baja California Sur state, Mexico. It is the seat of Los Cabos Municipality lying at a shallow bay northeast of Cabo San Lucas on the Gulf of California. The city h ...

(1736–1746) and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

(1747–1750).Crosby, Harry W. 1994. ''Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697–1768'', p. 410. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. He left the peninsula in 1750 to serve at the Jesuit college in Guadalajara. Taraval Street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taraval, Sigismundo 1700 births 1763 deaths People from Lodi, Lombardy 18th-century Italian Jesuits History of Baja California Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in New Spain Italian expatriates in Mexico