1. Spanish Missions in Texas
How Spain Colonized Texas

2. Brief History 1492 – Columbus came to America
Spaniards came to explore American mainland
1500s – Spanish explorers
Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado
reinforced their claim to Texas
Friars were establishing missions
1682 – La Salle led first the European expedition to navigate the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico
Claimed the entire region surrounding the Mississippi for France/France had a claim to Texas
Columbus came to America; on his second visit, he set up a colony on one of the islands of the West Indies; from there, Spaniards came to explore American mainland
Spanish explorers, like Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco de Vasquez de Coronado, traveled all over Texas looking for riches; they found nothing, but in doing so, they reinforced their claim to Texas
During this time, friars were establishing missions and soldiers and settlers were founding towns Soldiers and settlers were founding towns
in 1682, La Salle led the first European expedition to navigate the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico; he claimed the entire region surrounding the Mississippi for France and named the land Louisiana in honor of the French monarch Louis XIV
Spaniards feared a French Texas, so they decided it was time to settle Texas; renewed efforts to establish missions and settlements there

3. Section 1: Spanish Settlements on the Frontier
Main Ideas
Spanish officials promoted the building of missions, presidios, towns, and ranches in the borderlands.
The Spanish established missions along the western Rio Grande during the 1680s.
Question: How did Spanish officials try to control the borderlands of New Spain?

4. What Does Colonization Mean?
Missions had several purposes
Convert the Natives to the Catholic faith
Teach the natives to be subjects of Spain (loyal to the government)

5. MAJOR GOAL OF MISSIONS Spaniards feared a French Texas
Decided it was time to settle Texas
Renewed efforts to establish missions and settlement
The major goal of missions was to help Spain colonize and eventually become the greatest nation in the world.

7. Major Players
*Martin de Alarcón – established San Antonio de Valero – one of the most important missions in Texas
*Francisco Hidalgo – tireless advocate for missions and Indians; attempted to reestablish missions in East Texas

8. What Was a Spanish Mission
Missions were the main tool for colonizing Texas.
Most missions were a square compound with enclosed walls to protect those inside.
Run by a priest.
Often had lookout towers.

10. Purpose Missions were expected to:
Be self supporting (grow, make its own stuff)
Make a profit$$$ for Spain
Produce goods for export ( beads, artwork)

11. To control the borderlands
Mission-Presidio System
Goal
Four types of Spanish settlements
Teach Indians about Catholicism and Spanish way of life
Create Spanish presence in the Americas
Protect Spanish citizens at missions and ranches
missions, presidios, towns, ranchos

12. Vocabulary Ranch Spanish Colonization Mission Presidio Town
Where do the following vocabulary terms belong? Write a sentence defending your answer.
MISSION VAQUERO PRESIDIO PRIEST CONVERT CATHOLIC CATTLE FRANSICAN SOLDIER FRIAR
Spanish Colonization
Mission
Presidio
Town
Ranch

13. Life in Spanish Texas Main Ideas
Mission life was structured around prayer and work.
The life of a presidio soldier could be harsh.
Life in Spanish settlements reflected the influence of Spanish culture, which is still felt in Texas today.
Question: In what ways has Spanish culture influenced present-day Texas?

14. Daily Life In the Missions
Morning Prayers
30-60 minutes of Catholic school
Worked in the field or workshops
After evening meal, more prayers
More Catholic school

15. Tough Going Missions were not all that successful.
Mission population shrank.
Natives ran away because they disliked mission life.
It cost the Spanish government $$$ to keep these missions going.

16. Examples of Spanish Influence in Texas
routes of
first Texas
roads
Catholic
heritage and
missions
many
Spanish
place names
Examples of Spanish
Influence in Texas
culture
(architecture,
art, food,
language,
music)
cattle
ranching
traditions and
terms
legal
traditions

17. Some Success, though…
Some missions did thrive (do well) and eventually became major cities.
El Paso
San Antonio
Many East Texas missions were named after Native Texan tribes

18. Consequences Missions brought civilization and religion to Texas.
New diseases also came with the missionaries and colonists. The Native Texans had no immunities to these diseases, so many died of influenza and other simple illnesses.

19. Presidios
Provided military support for the missions, and later, settlements.
It protected missionaries and colonists from attacks by Native Americans.

20. Mission Corpus Christi de la Ysleta
Established in 1682 by Spanish friars
Located a few miles east of the present-day El Paso
Texas’ oldest mission
All that remains is the restored mission church
Has changed names several times making it difficult to keep up with
during the 1600s when the Spanish were moving northward through Texas, friars in 1682 founded the first permanent settlement of Europeans in Texas – the mission of Corpus Christi de la Ysleta
However, El Paso, at that time, was part of New Mexico, so its hard to call it the oldest mission in “Texas”
none of the original square or compound is intact
next door to the Tigua Indian Reservation
Mission San Antonio de la Ysleta del Sur
Mission de Corpus Christi de los Tihuas de las Isleta del Sur
now called Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

21. Mission Corpus Christi de la Ysleta

22. Section 2: The French Challenge
Main Ideas
The French under La Salle established a settlement on the Texas coast, but it failed.
The French presence in Texas led the Spanish to create new missions in the region.
Question: What effect did the La Salle expedition have on Spanish policy?

23. De León and Father Massanet find two
French survivors.
La Salle Expedition
New Spanish Policy:
The Spanish learn of the expedition
and begin searching for it.
De León and Massanet find the remains of Fort
St. Louis and meet the Tejas.
establish missions in East Texas to convert the
Tejas and protect the region from the French

24. Search for LaSalle by the Spanish
Alonso DeLeon-Spanish Governor-General sent to find LaSalle’s colony
Father Damián Massanet accompanied de Leon to convert Native Americans
Along travels met Hasinais or as Spanish called them Tejas
Massanet believed the Tejas were interested in establishing a mission
They return in 1690 with friars and 100 soldiers and established the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas

25. Failed mission Deleon and Massanet return to Mexico City
In 1691, Massanet and a new governor Domingo Teran de los Rios, first appointed governor of Spanish Texas
Tension arise between the two men, pitting missionaries against the soldiers due to drought, crop failures and disease
Tejas blame the Spanish as a result, the Spanish burn the mission and flee back to Mexico City

26. Franciscan Father Francisco Hildalgo
Founded Mission San Juan Batista (Rio Grande), wrote letter to Governor of Louisiana (French) to help build missions
French explorer Louis Juchereau de St. Denis sent to find Father Hildalgo
St. Denis found trading post in Natchitoches, Lousiana (1714)
St. Denis finds Hildalgo, but is arrested by Presidio Commander Diego Ramon, lives with them, until sent south to Mexico City.

27. Mission San Juan Originally founded in 1716 in Eastern Texas
Transferred in 1731 to its present location
Helped support San Antonio missions and local settlements
By the mid 1700s, it was a regional supplier of agricultural produce
With its surplus, San Juan established a trade network stretching east to Louisiana and south to Coahuila, Mexico
This thriving economy helped the mission to survive epidemics and Indian attacks in its final year

28. Mission San Juan Bautista

29. Mission San José Founded in 1720
Reached its peak in 1794 with 350 Indians
Completely closed as a mission in 1824
The state’s largest restored mission compound and has the most ornate church façade
Still a parish church

31. Section 3: The Spanish Return to Texas
Main Ideas
In response to a perceived threat from the French, the Spanish resettled in East Texas in the early 1700s.
The Spanish built several missions, a presidio, and the region's first civil settlement near what is now San Antonio.
Question: What settlements did the Spanish establish in the San Antonio River area?

32. Domingo Ramon
June 1716, brought more soldiers, priests, civilians to include women into East Texas
Built Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas
*Antonio Margil de Jesus – established more missions (Nacogdoches, Texas)considered one of the founders of Texas and San Miguel de los Adades (Louisiana)
Ramon built a presidio on the Neches River
Tejas supported missions, they were not interested in converting to Catholicism

33. Martín de Alarcón
Governor of Spanish Texas builds a mission on the San Antonio River in 1718, Mission San Antonio de Valero
Winters were mild and summers were hot, but not very humid, cotton wood trees dotted most of the land
Antonio Margil de Jesus establishes San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo becoming the most profitable mission in Texas, by 1781, a sugar mill was built.
Ultimately, many Coahuiltecan lived there and large rancho’s of cattle
15 Canary Islands families move to the presidio, town named San Fernando de Bexar; first civil government rule
The entire area is renamed San Antonio de Bexar or San Antonio

34. San Antonio de Béxar Settlement Type Founder(s) Year San Antonio
de Valero
1718
mission
presidio
1720
civil settlement
1731
Martín de Alarcón
San Antonio
de Béxar
Martín de Alarcón
San José y
San Miguel
de Aguayo
Antonio Margil de Jesús
San Fernando
de Béxar
Canary Islander families

35. The Aguayo expedition reopened missions in East Texas.
Section 4: The Expansion of Spanish Settlement
Main Ideas
The Aguayo expedition reopened missions in East Texas.
José de Escandón helped settle the Rio Grande valley.
Missions in Central Texas were attacked by the Apache.
Question: How did the Spanish reestablish control of Texas after the departure of the French?

36. Conflict between France and Spain The Spanish return to Texas.
Effects
The Spanish abandon East Texas.
Aguayo expedition
Aguayo Expedition
José de Escandón
Central Texas missions
founded missions and presidios
strengthened Spanish control
built settlements along Rio Grande
secured Gulf Coast area
missions failed to convert Apaches
missions attacked by hostile Indians

37. Chicken Wars
June 1719, French soldiers surprise 2 Spaniards near a mission what is not Robeline, Louisiana
French took supplies to include several chickens from the mission’s henhouse
The French officer tied them to his horse, but the horse was frightened and the rider was thrown
The confusion allowed one of the Spaniards to escape and warn of the incident, this became known as the Chicken War
The raid causes the Spanish to fortify the region and retake the area

38. The Aguayo Expedition
Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo, governor of Coahuila and Texas in 1721, reclaimed the lost missions and rebuilt them
Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adades would serve as capital of Texas
The other was Nuesra Denora de Loreto de la Bahia del Espiritu Santo or La Bahia
The Expedition secured East Texas for the Spanish and end French claims to Texas.

39. New Settlements in Rio Grande
Long stretches of the Gulf Coast inhabitated by Native Americans and was open for France/England to claim this area. Spain again was concerned.
1746 Jose de Escandon established a colony in La Bahia
Ranching industry grew in this area along the San Antonio River
Missionaries improved relationship with Karankawa
Escandon founded 24 settlements in South Texas and 15 missions.
More than 6000 people lived in these colonies compared to all the 1800 that lived in rest of Texas

40. Presidio La Bahía (Golidad, TX)
Fort dates back to 1749
La Bahía’s job to protect Mission Espíritu Santo
Site of many skirmishes during the Mexican and Texan revolutions
Karankawa Indians not hospitable
Moved to the Guadalupe River
Goliad
Presidio means – military post or fortified settlement in an area under Spanish control
Presidio Nuestra Senora de Loreto de La Bahia del Espiritu Santo; name means Our Lady of Loreto of the Bay of the Holy Spirit
342 Texas men were executed here by the Mexican army during the 1836 Texas revolution which led to the “Remember Goliad” cry later shouted at the Battle of San Jacinto
Goliad got its name in 1829 when Mexicans rechristened it in honor of a revolutionary here – Hidalgo – by using “Goliad” as an anagram, without the H

41. Presidio La Bahía

42. Mission Espíritu Santo
Founded originally in 1722 on the Texas coast
Where Texas cattle business had its rudimentary beginnings
Karankawa Indians proved “cantankerous”
Moved in 1726 to the Guadalupe River
Closed in 1830
Situated in the middle of the Goliad State Historical Park
to discourage the French
Had the largest cattle ranch of all – 40,000 head
Mission Epiritu Santo; Mission Nuestra Senora Espiritu Santo de Zuniga; Name means Our Lady of the Holy Spirit of Zuniga
by the Agauyo expedition
many missions had cattle ranches because the Spaniards were seasoned cattlemen and brought the herds along with them

43. Mission Espíritu Santo

44. Clashes on the Frontier
San Saba 1757 built by Franciscan with a presidio to guard it
Little success was made to convert the Apaches, but they did live at the mission
Comanche, Tonkawa, Caddo numbering 2000 warriors attacked the Apaches and the mission in 1758
Burned the mission and killed the preists
This ended Spanish attempts to spread into Central Texas

45. How did the Spanish attempt to change American Indian culture?
Chapter Wrap-Up
How did the Spanish attempt to change American Indian culture?
How did San Antonio’s climate and location help the settlement become successful?
Why did the Spanish first leave and then return to Texas?

46. Resources Information http://www.nps.gov/saan/
Anderson, Adrian N. et al. Texas and Texans. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw Hill, 1993.
Foster, Nancy Haston. The Texas Monthly Guidebooks: Texas Missions, Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1995, 150 pgs.