Mission San Pedro Mártir was established by the Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 missionary José Loriente in 1794, in the mountain range of the same name in northern Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, Mexico.

Located at an elevation above 1,500 meters above sea level and far inland, Mission San Pedro Mártir appears to represent an initiative by the Dominicans to extend control over the Kiliwa

Kiliwa

The Kiliwa are an aboriginal people of northern Baja California, Mexico. They occupied a territory lying between the Cochimí on the south and the Paipai on the north, and extending from San Felipe on the Gulf of California to San Quintín on the Pacific coast...

 Indians who had lived outside of the scope of the earlier coastal missions. The first site of the mission was Casilepe; later in the same year it was relocated to Ajantequedo, about 13 kilometers to the northeast. The date for the closing of the mission is somewhat uncertain, being variously reported as 1806 and 1824. The mission's neophytes were relocated to Mission Santo Domingo.

Archaeological explorations have located possible traces of the first mission site. Foundations and walls survive at the second mission site.