1822, and the first "colonists" arrive in California as part of Iturbide's project to strengthen the frontier by building up its population. Thanks to the plans developed by the "Azcárate Commission," California's population of five-thousand would more than triple over the next five years due to this "influx," which put an immense strain on the local culture and infrastructure (what there was of it, anyway) of the territory. Admittedly, far more were sent to Nuevo México and Texas (not the least reason being those trips were much easier to accomplish), but the Californios began to feel they were being swamped.

Back in México City, there were detailed plans that had specified where all these new immigrants were to end up and what land they would be getting, etc., but in practice those details tended to either work only in a California that didn't really exist except in their plans, or they just plain got ignored by people who were now thousands of miles away from the planners. Several Californios were...perturbed to discover individual settlers - and occasionally whole communities - calmly farming away (or more likely than not, simply squatting and living off the land) on what was their Rancho land.

Worst hit were Mission lands. The number of Indians on those Missions had been declining dramatically - while funds for the missions and their Franciscans had been drying up even faster - so that large chunks of their lands were, while nominally being held for their Indian clients, for all practical purposes abandoned. And if not, often, the new immigrants would often work at "inspiring" the Indians there to do some abandoning. After seven years of nibbles - and occasional huge gulps - of land being whittled away, what was left of the Mission system in California would be secularized in 1829.

In 1823, a substantial portion of the immigration program became, not "volunteer" civilians, but instead members of the México's new army, there to form "military colonies" to defend (and eventually enlarge - or so the plans went) the frontier. By deeding land in these "colonies" to the solders who were sent there, they were planned to be not only self-sustaining (very useful, since California, fer instance, could barely support the couple of hundred presidio troops it currently had), but if they were spending their "off-duty" hours working the land, this would keep the solders away from idleness - thus hopefully away from drunkenness, thievery, and other vices... Also, by giving them land of their very own, México City hoped this would give them a very real stake in defending the area.

As the Romans could have told them, this sort of thing actually worked. However, as they also could have told them, these new land owners could develop their own ideas about just who and what they needed defending from...

The first three colonies were started in the San Diego (where declining population due to Indian raids had made reviving the area a necessity) and the Monterey areas. In 1828, five more were started in the relatively untouched (by Méxican hands) Central Valley, both because there were large chunks of nicely available land there not previously divided up into ranchos and whatnot and because this would put the military firmly between the main population on the coast and the Indians of the inland regions. Growth was steady and there were over six-hundred military colonists and their families by 1830.

Yet another plan to import colonists - this time, from China - got to the first boatload stage (twenty-seven men and eighteen women) before it was called off as "too expensive." It had little effect other than to start the first Chinese community in the Central Valley in 1826 (and thered be a long wait until the second, in 1872).

By this time, Iturbide's forced immigration had been going on for a full eight years and many of the older Californian residents felt that enough was enough - the place didn't need any more "strengthening." Even the first waves from 1822-25 felt that it was being carried too far - just as they were beginning to settle in, here would come a new group to stir things up again.

Meanwhile, more and more of the land the settlers had been given was ending up under the ownership of a small number of people back in central México as it was used to pay the ever increasing debts these settlers piled up trying to buy the things they needed to, well, settle.

While local iron working, glass making, and leather industries had begun to spring up (often as not, worked - or at least owned - by foreigners from the US or BNA), these were still tiny and did not supply much more than a fraction of the needs for such material goods in California. Imports were marked up well over their México City price - often four or five hundred percent more. It didn't take buying a lot of luxuries - or necessities, for that matter - for one of the new settlers to discover that they now owed more than the total value of their land to someone back in México City.

And California was not the only part of the northern frontier having these problems. Sonora, Nuevo México and Texas were all under tremendous strains from the same combination of factors. Further, in spite of the increased army presence the military colonies brought, the increasing number of settlers (plus the increasing number of guns bought from United States traders) brought an equally big increase in raids by Indians into the territories.

1831 and the territory was in an ugly mood by May of that year. Hostility by Californios towards Méxicans from "la otra banda" had hit levels at least as high as the average Méxican had towards the Spanish just a decade before. As a result, Governor Hernandez (possibly the least liked Governor California ever had - and thats saying something) had effectively lost control of all but the Monterey area.

Then in Los Angeles, on May 21st, the major land owners elected José Figueroa as their Governor of California. The majority of the citizens, and over half of California's small resident army (both presidio troops and military colonists) flocked to his banner. Up in Monterey, an increasingly nervous Governor Hernandez was sending off urgent requests to México City for reinforcements, while his remaining loyal troops tried to set up the capital to withstand a siege as best they could. México City, however, was more concerned with the ongoing rebellion in Nuevo México and the rumblings coming out of Texas.

On June 1st, 1831, a small group of local residents, backed by a platoon of solders met the latest incoming "Exile Party" in an orange grove two miles east of San Diego. No one is quite sure who organized this expedition, or what their original plans were, but when they met the tired, footsore and badly malnourished exiles (accompanied by their Méxican Army guards who were hardly any better off) things seemed to crystallize.

Locating the Lieutenant in charge of the party, they informed him that México City no longer ruled here, and that he was now under the command of the "Republic of California."

It would be three weeks before Governor Figueroa learned that he had been made head of a sovereign nation in a San Diego orange grove...

Figueroa called for a convention in early August to formalize Californias revolt and form an interim government. At the convention, Juan Alvarado (who would become governor himself in 1836) gave an impassioned speech, telling his listeners that the revolt represented "the dawn of liberty" and a breaking of "the chains that oppressed this unhappy land." Beneath the rhetoric, Californios saw greater home rule as providing political means for solving local problems: autonomy to rewrite tariff regulations, which would promote rather than hinder Californias vital foreign commerce, a halt to sentencing Méxican convicts to "colonize" California, an end to passing over the local military for promotions in favor of recently arrived officers from México, and a transfer of civil power from the military to civilians.

And the fact that it would open up more political offices to local Californios with political ambitions was a bonus.

More of the local army in California began to come over to the new Republic, as being landowners themselves, they discovered they had more loyalty to California than distant México city. Hernandez held out in Monterey until late September, but finally surrendered on the 23^rd of that month.

It wasnt until November that México could land troops in Baja and San Diego, in an effort to put down the rebellion. However, once there, they encounter unexpectedly heavy resistance - and a frighteningly poor logistical chain. Then, the 1831 rebellion in Nuevo México went into high gear (indeed, the worst rebellion the area would ever see) and this threatened to spread into a Texas already ready to bolt due to their last failed attempt to become a separate state from Coahuila, so suddenly those troops were needed back in México proper - and as soon as possible.

México City weighed the option of losing California - which it really didn't consider to be worth very much - versus losing everything from Sonora to the Gulf of México and said weight could only lead to their withdrawal from San Diego six months later (and Baja a month after that) and a de-facto acknowledgment that California was independent (though this was more of an "ignoring it" then formal recognition, really. México would in fact toy with claiming it as "their" territory for the next seventy years).

In July of 1832, Britain recognized the Republic of California, which started a somewhat sputtering wave of international recognition - and increased Britains control over imports (at, admittedly, lower cost and better quality than theyd gotten from México).

While getting a lock on the Californian markets was a nice - if tiny - bonus, Britains main purpose was to bolster a California that otherwise might fall to the Russians north of it. Britain was antsy enough with Russians both being to the north and the south of its Columbian territories, it didn't need them grabbing another thousand miles of coastline - that might give them ideas...

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