Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest

The National Park Service preserves and maintains historic places and stories of America's diverse cultural heritage and expands and maintains the National Register of Historic Places.

Originally, the Spanish established missions to convert American Indians to Christianity and to instill Spanish lifeways. Over the years, they have been given new meanings. The story of each mission is as unique as the diverse native peoples and European missionaries who built the great churches that have amazed travelers for centuries. The National Park Service preserves and maintains historic places and stories of America's diverse cultural heritage and expands and maintains the National Register of Historic Places.

The Spanish Colonial Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary was produced by the National Park Service (NPS) Office of Outreach, Education and Training (including the former Heritage Education Services office) and the NPS Archeology Program in partnership with the Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona, the Latino Research and Training Center at the University of New Mexico (UNM) , the Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC., the NPS Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers.