Full name: San Ignacio de Kadakaamán
Founding date: January 20, 1728 Mission #11
Catholic Order: Jesuit
Founded by: Padre Juan Luyando
Condition: Stone church construction from 1761 to 1767 and again from 1779 to 1786.
Closing date: Closed in 1840.
GPS: 27.283939, -112.898922
Access: Mex. #1 Km. 73 (San Ignacio entrance), south 1.6 miles (paved).
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The mission of San Ignacio de Kadakaamán, was founded in 1728 by Padre Juan Bautista de Luyando, and was the eleventh Spanish mission in California. San Ignacio was the northernmost mission for the next twenty-four years and today is the northernmost Spanish mission in the state of Baja California Sur.
The site for San Ignacio was visited in 1716 by Jesuit Padre Francisco Maria Píccolo on an expedition from the mission at Mulegé. Píccolo had heard of a large settlement of Cochimí Indians and much fresh water at their home, called Kadakaamán. Once there, Píccolo found hundreds of natives awaiting conversion. Padre Píccolo named the river and location San Vicente, but that name later would be changed with the founding of the mission, twelve years later. In 1728, Padre Luyando and two soldiers first built a chapel and a house of sticks and reeds. Later those were replaced by larger rooms made of adobe and stone. Corn, wheat, olives, figs, sugarcane, pomegranate, cotton, Arabian date palms, and 500 grapevines were soon planted at San Ignacio. During 1733, Luyando’s final year at San Ignacio, his grapevines produced the mission’s first vintage.
Many expeditions were initiated from San Ignacio in search of new mission sites. The most famous was in 1746 and led by Padre Fernando Consag to the Colorado River Delta. This expedition finally put an end to the idea that California was an island. The Jesuits now had a new directive to expand north. Santa Gertrudis, the first new mission north of San Ignacio, was founded in 1752.
May 2019 photos by David Kier
August 2017 photo by David Kier
June 2017 photo by David Kier
February 2017 photos by David Kier
September 2016 photos by David Kier
July 2015 photos by David Kier
July 2009 photo by David Kier
July 2007 photos by David Kier
Other visits by David, to San Ignacio, were in 2012, 2001, 1985, 1976, 1974, 1973, and 1966.
Historic photos from others
2001 photos by Jack Swords
Photos by Harry Crosby (year is below photo)
Photos by Howard Gulick
1949-1950 Photos by Marquis McDonald
1930 photos by Margaret Wood Bancroft
- GPS: 27.283939, -112.898922 (mission church)
- Directions: Highway 1 at Km. 73, take paved road south, over the river to the town plaza (1.6 mi.)
- Mission San Borja in photos: https://vivabaja.com/san-borja/
- Mission Santa Gertrudis in photos: https://vivabaja.com/santa-gertrudis/
- Mission San Javier in photos: https://vivabaja.com/san-javier/
- All the missions, quick look and history, north to south: https://vivabaja.com/mission-site-photos/
I hope this was interesting or informative for you! Please be welcome to join our Baja California Land of Missions Book Group, on Facebook: HERE
- All the missions, quick look and history, north to south: HERE
- Other mission photo pages plus more Baja California history: HERE
- VivaBaja.com home page
The following chapter is from my book, Baja California Land of Missions Order your own copy from Amazon Books: HERE
#11 San Ignacio de Kadakaamán (1728-1840)
The mission of San Ignacio de Kadakaamán, was founded in 1728 by Padre Juan Bautista de Luyando, and was the eleventh Spanish mission in California. San Ignacio was the northernmost mission for the next twenty-four years and today is the northernmost Spanish mission in the state of Baja California Sur.
The site for San Ignacio was visited in 1716 by Jesuit Padre Francisco Maria Píccolo on an expedition from the mission at Mulegé. Píccolo had heard of a large settlement of Cochimí Indians and much fresh water at their home, called Kadakaamán. Once there, Píccolo found hundreds of natives awaiting conversion. Padre Píccolo named the river and location San Vicente, but that name later would be changed with the founding of the mission, twelve years later. In 1728, Padre Luyando and two soldiers first built a chapel and a house of sticks and reeds. Later those were replaced by larger rooms made of adobe and stone. Corn, wheat, olives, figs, sugarcane, pomegranate, cotton, Arabian date palms, and 500 grapevines were soon planted at San Ignacio. During 1733, Luyando’s final year at San Ignacio, his grapevines produced the mission’s first vintage.
Many expeditions were initiated from San Ignacio in search of new mission sites. The most famous was in 1746 and led by Padre Fernando Consag to the Colorado River Delta. This expedition finally put an end to the idea that California was an island (see map on page 212). The Jesuits now had a new directive to expand north. Santa Gertrudis, the first new mission north of San Ignacio, was founded in 1752.
Flash floods were frequently responsible for agricultural losses, so the Jesuits had massive dikes built. The largest was called a muralla and was three miles long, twelve feet high, and up to forty feet wide. Protective dikes had been destroyed twice before this final one was completed, in 1762. Remains of the muralla are located just east of the mission and town center of San Ignacio.
In 1765, Padre José Rotea discovered a skeleton he believed was of an eleven-foot tall man at the mission visita of San Joaquín, nine miles to the south. This firmed up the legends he heard about “giants” that lived on the peninsula before the Cochimí Indians. “Giants” was the Cochimí explanation for how the high ceiling cave art sites in the mountains north of San Ignacio were painted.
The beautiful cut-stone church of San Ignacio, whose construction was started by the Jesuits in 1761, was completed in 1786 by the Dominican Padre Juan Gómez. San Ignacio proved to be a highly successful mission, remaining open until 1840 although not fully staffed after 1822. The building continued on serving as a parish church for the newly arrived Mexicans and few remaining native Californians. Today, the grand stone church is the center of the town of San Ignacio, facing the town’s central plaza.
Missionaries recorded at San Ignacio:
Jesuit
Juan Luyando 1728-1733
Sebastián Sistiaga 1728-1747
Sigusmundo Taraval 1732-1733
Fernando Consag 1733-1759
Georg Retz 1751
José Rotea 1759-1768
Franciscan
Miguél de la Campa y Cos April 5, 1768
Juan de Medina Beitia 1769-1771
José Legomera 1771
Dominican
Juan Crisóstomo Gómez and José García Villatoro May 15, 1773
Joaquín Cálvo 1794-1795
Domingo Timón 1795-1798
José Loriénte 1796
Rafaél Arviña 1799-1802 and 1804-1805
José Espín 1805
Pedro Juan González 1806 and 1812-1822
Félix Caballero 1840
See the other mission pages: https://vivabaja.com/baja-mission-albums/