Editing San Francisco (section)

===Spanish era===
[[File:Victor Adam after Louis Choris - Vue du Presidio san Francisco, 1822 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Juan Bautista de Anza]] established the [[Presidio of San Francisco]] for the [[Spanish Empire]] in 1776.]]
[[File:Mission San Francisco de Asís (Oriana Day) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Mission San Francisco de Asís]] was founded by Padre [[Francisco Palóu]] on October 9, 1776.]]
The [[Spanish Empire]] claimed San Francisco as part of [[Las Californias]], a province of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]]. The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2, 1769, when the [[Portolá expedition]] led by Don [[Gaspar de Portolá]] and [[Juan Crespí]] arrived at [[San Francisco Bay]]. Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor, the Spanish dispatched [[Pedro Fages]] in 1770 to find a more direct route to the [[San Francisco Peninsula]] from [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], which would become part of the [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] route. By 1774, [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] had arrived to the area to select the sites for a [[Spanish missions in California|mission]] and [[presidios of California|presidio]]. The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5, 1775, when the Spanish ship [[San Carlos (1768 ship)|''San Carlos'']], commanded by [[Juan Manuel de Ayala]], became the first ship to anchor in the bay.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Raup|first1=H. F.|title=The Delayed Discovery of San Francisco Bay|journal=California Historical Society Quarterly|volume=27|issue=4| year=1948|page=293|doi=10.2307/25156125 |jstor=3816007 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3816007|access-date=November 12, 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Soon after, on March 28, 1776, Anza established the [[Presidio of San Francisco]]. On October 9, [[Mission San Francisco de Asís]], also known as Mission Dolores, was founded by Padre [[Francisco Palóu]].<ref name="DeAnza-Moraga-Palou"/> In 1794, the Presidio established the [[Fort Point National Historic Site|Castillo de San Joaquín]], a fortification on the southern side of the [[Golden Gate]], which later came to be known as Fort Point.

In 1804, the province of [[Alta California]] was created, which included San Francisco. At its peak in 1810–1820, the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1,100 people.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cleary |first=Brother Guire |url=http://www.catholic-sf.org/013103.html |title=Mission Dolores Links San Francisco with its 18th Century Roots – Founded as La Mission San Francisco De Asis by Franciscans, it survived earthquake and fire |work=Catholic San Francisco |date=January 31, 2003 |access-date=March 23, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205190950/http://catholic-sf.org/013103.html |archive-date=February 5, 2007 }}</ref>