The Hispanic-American History Timeline

1691 Father Eusebio Kino establishes
       Tumacácori and Guevavi

Father Eusebio Fransisco Kino, and Italian-born, Jesuit missionary and cartographer, establishes two Spanish missions on two consecutive days, in present-day southern Arizona, just six miles north of today's U.S.-Mexico border.
​     First comes La Misión San Cayetano de Tumacácori (years later replaced by Mission San José de Tumacácori). One day later, came La Misión de San Gabriel de Guevavi, which years later became known as Misión Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi. 

     Tumacácori and Guevavi are the first two of many more missions to be established by Father Kino, who is on a quest to convert the O'odham natives of the region to Chrsitianity. With time, the Tohono O'odham not only adopt the Catholic religion, but the Spanish language.
     Today, more than three centuries later, the decedents of the Tohono O'odham still speak their native pima language as well as Spanish. Today, both missions are part of the Tumacácori National Historical Park. The Mission San José de Tumacácori complex is open to the public. Nearby are the park's visitor center and the Tumacácori Museum. The Guevavi mission is not open to the general public, but can be visited on reserved tours led by park staff.
     There are statues of Father Kino in Phoenix, Nogales, and Tucson, Arizona. He also stands in a bronze statue in the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C.

By Mary Addy, Lehman College

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