摘要：This article examines the records of the last generation of German Jesuit missionaries in California (present-day Baja California). Removed from the colonial Spanish territory in 1768 by edict of the Spanish king, the missionaries formed a narrative of their efforts in California that they then brought back to Europe. In California, the missionaries attributed great spiritual significance to the dry climate of the region. The arid physical environment thwarted the missionaries’ efforts to build the landscape that they believed was vital to the spiritual development of the indigenous Californians. The Jesuits maintained the necessity of their desired landscape even as they came to accept the impossibility of physically creating it in California. Ultimately, the environment occupied a prominent place in the missionaries’ accounts which simultaneously justified their work in California and explained its shortcomings.
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