On Jan. 13, 1777 Padre Thomas Peña, under the direction of Padre Junípero Serra, officially founded Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth of California’s 21 missions. Located along El Camino Real, ...

Control of Los Cabos missions at San José del Cabo and Santiago shifted from the Jesuits to Franciscans in 1768, with dire ...

The missions—built between 1769 and 1823 and extending in a chain of 600 miles from Sonoma to San Diego—stand as symbols of California's Spanish colonial past. Pictured is San Miguel's bell tower.

A piece of California history that dates to 1776 is going up for auction in New York City later this month. A two-page letter by Father Junipero Serra, regarded as the father of the California mission ...

After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science ...

For many of our readers, the world has been their oyster these last months. They’ve ridden camels in Tangier, explored Maine’s Acadia National Park and seen the Northern Lights in Iceland. And when ...