Why was mission santa barbara built?

Answer 1

To tech people the word of god

It was built because Spain could hold onto the claim on Alta CA stronger.

This is a complicated question. The Spanish Crown did need to secure her territory in California. Due to a lack of interest in migration to California from other parts of Mexico, the Spanish colonial government decided the best way to secure the land against Russian settlement was to Christianize the indigenous people of California. It was thought that these Native People would become "good Spanish citizens" and defend Spanish claim to California.

The Franciscan Padres, under the direction of Father Junipero Serra (and later Fr. Fermin Lauseun) wanted to establish Missions for a different set of reasons, including a belief that Christianization (evangelization) would save the souls of the indigenous people.

Mission Santa Barbara, also known as Santa Barbara Mission, is a Spanish mission founded by theFranciscan order near present-day Santa Barbara, California. It was founded December 4, 1786, the feast day ofSaint Barbara, as the tenth mission for the religious conversion of the indigenous local Chumash-Barbareñotribe of Native American people.