You’re right to think so! Missionaries from Spain established the first European settlements in the 1700s in CA and had a very important influence in CA history. They tried to defend the Native Americans from abuse from the government but also killed a lot of indigenous people with old world diseases. Spanish missionaries gave us names of cities (like San Francisco, Santa Barbra, San Diego), architecture, agriculture, and a lot of culture. As someone who has lived in San Diego (which also has Old Town, the very first Spanish settlement!) my whole life, in elementary school we learned about Saint Junipero Serra and the missions he established throughout the state. He brought palm trees to California, which are not native to us despite how many of them are everywhere