Santa Barbara County History 1543-1917

While the County of Santa Barbara includes within its boundaries the wide variety of soil and climate which has made California famous the world over, it also embodies in its history an epitome of the whole state.Tracing the story of this county, you are learning the history of California, of its mysterious past, of its days of wild romance, of the self-sacrificing zeal of the Mission era, of the coming of a new people, the growth and development of a new civilization and the material and intellectual advancement that has attracted the attention and excited the admiration of the world.For here was found the most densely populated portion of California when the white man made his first landing on its shores. Here the zealous pioneers of the Cross built their most impressive Mission. Here was gathered the largest congregation of a dark-skinned race, and here is now found the most charming environment which ease-loving Americans have discovered on all this western shore.In this brief history we hope to give you some idea of the vanished races who before the white man's era so thickly peopled these pleasant shores, of the effect of their contact with the new-comers and of their sudden and remarkable disappearance from the face of the earth.Our history will therefore, naturally embrace three periods which we may appropriately designate: THE ABORIGINAL PERIOD.THE SPANISH-MEXICAN PERIOD. THE AMERICAN PERIOD