Sigismundo Taraval
Sigismundo Taraval SJ (Italian: Sigismondo Traballi; 1700–1763) was a pioneering Italian Jesuit missionary in Baja California who wrote important historical accounts of the peninsula.
Biography
Born in Lodi, Lombardy, he served initially as missionary at La Purísima (1730–1732) and San Ignacio (1732-1733), among the Cochimí.[1] A notable episode while he was at San Ignacio was the bringing of the inhabitants of Cedros Island to the mission.[2][3] In a relatively detailed account of the islanders' aboriginal lifeways, Taraval presented what were perhaps the earliest speculations concerning the region's prehistoric past.[4]
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[5] and then to Isla Espíritu Santo. He wrote a detailed if partisan account of the revolt and its subsequent suppression.[6][7]
Subsequently, Taraval later served at the southern missions of San José del Cabo (1736–1746) and Santiago (1747–1750).[8][9] He left the peninsula in 1750 to serve at the Jesuit college in Guadalajara.
Taraval Street in San Francisco is named after him.
References
- Back to citation Crosby, Harry W. 1994. Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697–1768, p. 410. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
- Back to citation Des Lauriers, Matthew R., and Claudia García Des Lauriers. 2006. "The 'Huamalgüeños' of Isla Cedros, Baja California, as Described in Father Miguel Venegas' 1739 Manuscript Obras Californians. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 26:123–152.
- Back to citation Venegas, Miguel. 1979. Empressas Apostolicas de los PP. Missioneros de la Compañia de Jesus, de la Provincia de Nueva Espaňa Obradas en la Conquista de California, pp. 389–409. Obras californianas del padre Miguel Venegas, S.J., vol. 4. Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Mexico.
- Back to citation Laylander, Don. 2014. "The Beginnings of Prehistoric Archaeology in Baja California, 1732-1913". Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 50(1&2):1–3.
- Back to citation Beebe, Rose Marie; Senkewicz, Robert M. (2001). Lands of promise and despair: chronicles of early California, 1535-1846. Santa Clara, CA: Santa Clara University; Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-890771-48-5. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
- Back to citation Taraval, Sigismundo. 1931. The Indian Uprising in Lower California, 1734–1737. Edited by Marguerite Eyer Wilbur. Quivira Society, Los Angeles.
- Back to citation Taraval, Sigismundo. 1996. La rebelión de los Californios. Edited by Eligio Moisés Coronado. Doce Calles, Madrid.
- Back to citation Burrus, Ernest J. 1984. Jesuit Relations: Baja California, 1716–1762, 35–36. Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles.
- Back to citation Crosby, Harry W. 1994. Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697–1768, p. 410. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.