and supply voyages beginning in 1769 and continuing to 1820. Spanish missions It was not until 1769 that the first missions were established in today's California (then called Las Californias), including the first mission, at San Diego in 1769, the mission at Monterey in 1770, and the mission at San Francisco in 1776. These missions eventually stretched from the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula to Sonoma, California, north of San Francisco. The purpose of the missions, which typically had an accompanying pueblo (town) and presidio (military outpost), was to solidify the 250-year-old Spanish claim to the region. This need became more urgent as the Russians and British were establishing fur trading posts on the far northern part of the west coast of North America. In addition, there continued the long-standing interest in creating a safe anchorage for seaworn Manila Galleons on their return to Acapulco. Russian settlements Explorers and fur trappers from the Russian Empire (beginning with Semyon Dezhnev expedition of 1630) arrived on the Pacific coast of today's Alaska, and after establishing settlements there (beginning in 1784), expanded hunting and trading down the west coast of North America. In the early 19th century, fur trappers of the Russian Empire explored the west coast of North America, hunting for sea otter pelts as far south as San Diego. In 1812, the Russian-American Company set up a fortified trading post at Fort Ross, located north of present-day Bodega Bay some sixty miles north of San Francisco, with the never-materialized hope of using that area to develop a source of agricultural products needed for their settlements in Alaska. Spanish exploration In the late 18th century, Spain reacted to the increasing Russian and British presence in the Pacific Northwest by sending exploratory expeditions along the coast as far north as Alaska. In 1774 Juan José Pérez Hernández was commissioned to explore the coast up to 60° N, but only made it as far as 55°30´ N. Off Langara Island in Haida Gwaii he made contact with the Haida, and on the homeward journey, the Nuu-chah-nulth. In 1775, a two-ship exploration expedition led by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta landed on the coast of today's Washington—the first European to have sailed this far north along the coast. The expedition re-asserted Spanish claims to all the coastal lands, including to the Russian settlements in the north. The two ships sailed together as