Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence () was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. The war had its antecedent in Napoleon's French invasion of Spain in 1808; it extended from the Cry of Dolores by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 16, 1810, to the entrance of the Army of the Three Guarantees led by Agustín de Iturbide to Mexico City on September 27, 1821. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day.
History of the west coast of North America
After the Spanish possession now known as Mexico (first known as "América Septentrional" or "Northern America") won its War of Independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico initially retained Spain's missions and settlements along the Pacific coast, and continued Spain's claims to territory as far north as today's border between California and Oregon. In the 1830s, Mexico ended Church control of the missions in California and opened the land to secular development, particularly ranching. By the 1840s, there were small Mexican settlements at San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the territorial capital at Monterey. These settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels. This period is vividly portrayed in Bostonian Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s famous seafaring memoir, "Two Years Before the Mast" and the culture of the great Mexican landowners of this period is often harked back to as exemplifying the height of California's romantic pastoral era. Mexican control of the territory ended after only 25 years, when attempts by local Mexican officials to expropriate the property of American ranchers and drive them out of California in the winter lead to the successful uprising known as the Bear Flag Revolt.