and he is currently professor of history at university of southern california. his new book tells the story of the first three centuries of the european encounter with north america from about 1500- 1800. he opens with a bold statement, there can be no understanding of american culture and history without an understanding of the role played by catholic people and the unfolding drama of the catholic experience. who were those people and what were their roles. please stay with us and after the break we will speak to professor starr and scratch on his sound of historical knowledge -- font of historical knowledge. welcome back to mosaic. our guest today is professor kevin starr , author dasher author of the book, continental ambitions. let me ask about your title. you say in your introduction there are many fine histories of catholics in north america with a regional and historical perspective. it is a larger perspective, why did you adopt it?>> i adopted the larger perspective because it was adopted by two strong catholic civilizations in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. new spain and new france had to a smaller degree, the catholic colony of maryland. i wanted to adopt that because i wanted the mixture of approaching the continent of north america, it turns of exploration, settlement and in certain cases conquests. and in certain cases, terrible behavior toward native americans. then the other side was submerged and sometimes surfacing in that was evangelization. coming into this new world of north america and bringing catholic peoples there and encountering the indigenous peoples and trying to create a catholic civilization in this magnificent, unfolding continent. it takes about 300 years to fully explore. >> host: i am reminded in your book how huge north america is. we typically think of the u.s. and canada. but from from greenland to the bering strait, that is north america. >> absolutely. the bering strait is about 40 miles. on the other side, when they settled greenland, north america was a 6-10 day voyage away. so, the settlement begins as early as that in the air your -- in the year 1000. roughly in the year 1000, you have the norse from iceland establishing a colony in greenland that lasts until the 14/15 -- the 1450s. >> host: and you start with greenland and you come down? >> the norse elected to become the icelandic -- the icelandic north became that's the icelandic norse became catholics of their -- the icelandic norse became catholics of their own free will. they had a beautiful cathedral and to monastic houses. they have diocese and claridge -- and clergy. there was a 6-10 day voyage that was maybe as far south as chesapeake bay. there was the north american continent beckoning them. they had sailed off of it and they knew it was there in the -- and it called to them.>> host: your book tells three main catholic -- of three main catholic nationalities coming in. we have the french and english. what were the ambitions of these three groups? differing ambitions or several dasher similar ambitions? did they compete? >> it began in the 18th century and the floor does as well. in the 1520s, they came up from the caribbean. i opened with a chapter because the caribbean was not technically north america, but it was the staging area for new spain. they come into florida. there is a hurricane and evocative and three companions -- davaca and three companions walk. then you have the creation of a fully realized european-style, spanish-style city. then i moved to new mexico where they encounter the pueblo indians and the great pueblo revolt. there is the coming of the christians and the conquest of awe,. -- of akima. these are not always noble ambitions. they were at times clearing of native americans to get them out of the way. there are deep ambitions in the continent itself and the spanish and french culture. there's a deep relationship to the continent itself and to the indigenous people in creating a catholic place. >> host: the ambition to clear -- to care for the natives. what is striking is that the ambition to care for the natives and protect them seems to be with the religious orders.>> as early as 1810, at dominican father arises in the -- in hispaniola. in his service, he says that god will punish us for what we are doing to the native americans. we must change our ways and make atonement. that's why he joined the dominicans. he was an adventurer and became a priest and finally joined the dominicans because they stood for the rights of the native americans.>> host: and he left us a record. >> he was a superb writer. i don't know how he did as much as he did and then left as much writing as he did.>> host: there are primary sources which are chronicles of those in the 15th and 16th centuries. we feel that we are really on the spot with these people and there is an understanding of the environment and the act tiffany's and you show a lot of interesting characters. >> first of all, you have to have the documents that are there. when akima was massacred, you had the documents and the testimony. the jesuit relations and missionaries. there's a wealth of information. so, i tried to move toward interaction of biography and people and individuals. the landscape and the catholic tradition coming to pull all these things together into new -- into a new way of being an american and possibly a new way of being an american catholic. >> host: we will come back after this break and talk more with professor kevin starr . [text message alert rings] [texting keystrokes] hello. we are back with professor kevin starr talking about the history of america. the new world had a wide as a writer with -- a wide array of people. can you compare how the three different sorties into this country dealt with the native american people and how the native american people dealt with them? let me put it this way. if you were native american watching and approaching a band of europeans, which would you have liked to have seen coming in?>> the spanish had a hard time. they had been in a crusade and they had come to enrich themselves. when columbus went back to spain after the first voyage, he brought slaves back. queen isabella said, i sent you to evangelize the people and not enslave them. spain had to realize they were not behaving correctly and reform themselves. it took about 40-15 years -- 40- 50 years to get going. then the french. the first tribes of -- encountered along the maritime providence -- provinces, to this day are catholic. in the case of the huron's, there was a whole people that was converted. that was new york and canada along both sides of the border. they were devastated in 1649 by the iroquois invasion. you have the north american martyrs with all the jesuit missionaries and brothers who were executed. so, i would say the spanish had to learn and this -- and the french understood it better. the spanish also had trouble having spanish women to come over. over time, through christian and catholic marriage, a new race is born. a mixed race. in new mexico in the 1830s and 40s, are there -- there are 16,000 people who are the laity. i looked at the religious art as a way of looking into catholicism. it had a way of blending the hispanic and indigenous forms. >> host: this is interesting because the people were predominantly male and there were some females. i believe there was difficulty getting women and wives into the colonies. how was that solved?>> it was solved -- by the time we developed the them -- the mexican people from tucson into california in the 1770s. in the case of france, there was initially the idea that we could educate the native americans and have a mixed race develop. then louis xiv and his ministers set up a program, daughters of the king, in which young women from the farms who were second and third daughters without dowries and would've had to have a cinderella like life working for their older sisters could go to canada and mary. then there was the immigration of the french-canadian people. in the case of the catholics going to maryland, they tended to become men, women and children which is a more common english pattern of emigration. >> host: was there a high rate of intermarriage early on?>> by the time you got to the frontier, the more you had mixed populations grow. there was also mixed population growth in the maritime prophet census -- provinces. a new spain, took about 100 years for a fully new people to appear on the planet. in the case of maryland, they were anglo-americans from the beginning, men, women and children.>> host: the jesuits are a leading character in your book. i wanted to ask in detail about them. they may be the most important characters? >> i think for new friends, the -- new france, the jesuits were very important. then later in the great lakes and down in the mississippi valley to new orleans itself. you also had dioceses and clergy and seminaries. in the case of new spain, it is almost exclusively franciscan from florida to texas to arizona and new mexico. arizona was an exception where they came up from mexico in the 1700s. then once the jesuits are suppressed, bajada is turned over to the franciscans in the franciscans take over california. and then there was on the eastern seaboard?>> absolutely. and 24 25 -- in 24 and 25. they were suppressed in 1773. >> host: suppressed by? >> suppressed by pope clement and the ruling families of spain, france and portugal. there was a church within the church and it threatened their continental ambitions and the way they wanted to run their territories. i don't know if you saw the movie, the mission. that was a great one to show how they defended themselves. >> host: there were details about the jesuits protecting themselves. we will take a break now and come back soon to talk with professor kevin starr. [music] [music] [music] [music] we'd do anything for kids. yet 1 in 6 children in the us struggle with hunger. help end childhood hunger near you. learn how at feedingamerica.org. >> host: hello and welcome back to mosiac. we are speaking to professor starr . are you perhaps a leading expert on california history? >> it's not a crowded field and you could say that. >> host: you describe in detail how the spanish came up from the south to go to california. >> yes. >> host: also the english were looking for a harbor and the russians were pushing down. in that long history, what were the traditions and how did that come to be?>> there was a marvelous relationship. a night of multiple -- of malta and the viceroy of new spain. . he spunk that sponsors this exploration of the coast. eventually in 1790, a competition develops between the english, the russians and the americans for anchorage and alaska. i also realized how late california was. there were efforts to sell the florida as early as the 1520s. in front dashing california, we waited for the -- in california, we waited for the franciscans to come in the 1700s. california was the first of the colonies to obtain its own bishop and what is now the present-day united states. bishop moreno was established here in the early 1840s. he is not necessarily received well by a lot of the californians because they know he will insist on justice for the native americans and there would be conflict there. >> host: was the discoverer of sent -- discovery of san francisco bay a surprise? >> they thought it had more capacity than it did. when portola came up the hills of pacifica and it looked out to see the bay and sergeant ortega and some others explored it. it was a moment when the greeks see the sea. i have a beautiful painting in the book by arthur matthews, the great san francisco bay painter showing that. it was lent to me by the widow of a good friend of mine who owns the painting.>> host: you remind us in your book, and i think this is correct, that all the people wanted to get to california because it is the gateway to the east?>> the spaniards were abscessed with the pacific -- obsessed with the pacific. the pacific was going to come down into northern new mexico and they believe there might be a river that would flow westward into the sea. they even gave it a name. they wanted that pacific connection. because from the 1560s onward, they were in contact with the philippines. can you imagine the heroic nature of that? the one galion that would come each year across the japanese current and make landfall in california. they had a sense of the unity of the pacific basin way ahead of anybody else. >> host: i can assure viewers that the book is wonderful to read. it has 16-18 gorgeous colored plates and there's not a bad sentence and it. >> thank you. >> host: who is your audience and what you think the book will accomplish? you said it is the first portion of a grand narrative. >> i wrote this book for my fellow catholics. that's why i am thrilled to have the book with ignatius press because they are a leading local catholic publisher. >> host: in san francisco. >> my other publishers are university press and random house aim to toward a different audience. i wanted my fellow catholics to have a sense that we are not just an emigrant church and johnny-come-lately's to the american experience. indeed, we have played at foundational role in the euro american encounter. that is number one. secondly, i give myself narrative. i tell stories of how people enter counter things. i tell about the adventure and the catholic encounter. i got up to 1774 with john carroll. >> host: he was the first bishop? >> he was consecrated in 1790 and was pre-apostolic before that. i am halfway through the second one that deals with the revolutionary war and the early republic. at my age, i don't buy a green banana, but i am sort of trying to deal with god. if you keep me on this planet, i will keep producing the books. >> host: thank you for being here. the book is continental ambitions and the author is kevin starr of san francisco. thank you for joining us on mosiac . i hope you will enjoy continental ambitions and the success of books as they come out. we talked to quite a few filmmakers and they shared personal stories ... from independents.... to rs... here's a welcome to base sunday, i am your host, kenny choi. we have personal sure is from independence to contenders. here's the best the base sunday. was she your inspiration for your latest.>> my mother was a dance teacher. that's how we grew up. we all ended up in show business.>> -- >> host: i reath