Monjeríos

Monjeríos (Spanish pronunciation: [mõŋ.xe.ˈɾi.os], from monjería, "cloister") were quarters within a colonial Spanish mission for the housing (under conditions of near-imprisonment) of unmarried Indigenous Californian girls and single women. Girls were taken away from their parents to the monjeríos at around the age of seven until marriage. The quarters functioned as a form of social control at the missions for conversion to Catholicism, regulation of the sexuality of girls and women, and for the rearing of Indigenous children as a labor source.

The monjeríos instituted family separation on Indigenous peoples, with reports of sexual abuse. Resistance and rebellions toward the monjeríos occurred. There were monjeríos at all of the Spanish missions in California, often multiple at a single site. There were similar quarters for Indigenous boys and single men known as jayuntes. The monjeríos were not disbanded until the secularization of the missions by the First Mexican Republic in 1834.