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 the age old question as to whether Asia and North America were joined together in the north. In 1741 Bering and Tchirikoff discovered Alaska and a number of the islands of Bering Sea. Thereafter the Russians began the trade in furs which soon carried them from Kamchatka to the Alaska coast and thence southward toward California and Mexico.

It was these two movements of the British and Russians, which roused the Spaniards of Mexico to undertake new schemes of conquest, settlement, and exploration for the sake of safeguarding their possessions if possible against the fate which had befallen Florida.

Spaniards forced to become expansionists and explorers. Their plan was, first: to plant colonies and build forts at San Diego and Monterey harbours, as Vizcaino had recommended in 1603. Second, the entire region of Upper California was to be brought under Spanish rule. Third, they were to undertake explorations by sea, to the vicinity of the Russian settlements in order to fix the Spanish claim more firmly upon the northwest coast of America. In connection with the plan of conquest it was decided to establish a number of missions, similar to those already existing in the Peninsula, for the purpose of Christianizing the Indians. Father Junipero Serra, a devout Franciscan friar, was in charge of the missionary branch of the movement.

California missions planted. The first of the series of missions was founded by Father Serra at San