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Exterior of a two-story clay church, with a cross and bell tower. The sky behind the building is clear, with a few white clouds.
Spanish mission church in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/MARELBU)

First Western missions are established by the Spanish Empire.

1598

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Spanish mission church in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/MARELBU)

Missions are established in what the Spanish call Nuevo México (after 1598), Texas (in the late 1690s), Pimería Alta (in the 1680s) and, lastly California (in the 1770s). They are able to remain as permanent settlements through the aid of the Catholic Church.