1. Colonization of Texas Who did it When did they do it
Why did they do it

2. Hey, what happened to all the Conquistadors?
Cabeza De Vaca?
Coronado?
De Soto?
Where did they go?

3. Great! They show up, take all our goods, bring diseases, enslave or kill us and then they leave again.
I hope they don’t come back… or will they?

4. Many moons later… in 1682
There was a new citing of Europeans. Story has it, that they canoed down the mighty Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Their leader did not sound like those Conquistadors that my ancestors spoke of. No, he said stuff like “Bon jour” and “Ca va?” I have no idea what language that is. Do you?

5. Why is the mouth of the Mississippi so important to La Salle
Why is the mouth of the Mississippi so important to La Salle? Why call this area Louisiana?

6. Imagine you are La Salle: You just arrived back in France
Imagine you are La Salle: You just arrived back in France. How could you convince your king to send you back to this new land and why?
What’s in it for you?
How can this benefit the king?

7. Benefits of controlling the mouth of the Mississippi
Control trade to interior of North America
A French colony could thrive in Coastal Plains and serve as a checkpoint to keep an eye on Spanish activities in the Gulf of Mexico
Easier access to Mexico to explore silver and gold mines
French missionaries could teach Christianity to the Natives

8. La Salle receives 4 ships, 300 colonists & 100 soldiers from King Louis XIV
“Sweet! Let’s go! Hey, anybody have the address of the mouth of the Mississippi?”
“Dude, there’s no address. You need to use your coordinates, remember?”
“Cool. I have the latitude, that
should work, right??

10. Fort St. Louis

11. Nothing but problems Pirates attacked ships off Florida Coast
Couldn’t find mouth of Mississippi
Ship ran aground on sandbar
Problems with Natives… Do you remember which tribes lived here?
Drought ruined crops
Ran low on supplies
Mutiny and death of La Salle
Colony fails

12. The Race to claim Texas France vs. Spain Ready, set, go….
Until the late 1600s, Spaniards had been busy settling parts of Mexico and New Mexico.
When Spaniards found out about Ft. St. Louis they sent expeditions into Texas to find the fort.

13. Race to Claim Texas Texas was between Spanish Mexico &
French Louisiana
La Salle had established Fort Saint Louis for France.
Spain
Texas
France
La Salle

14. In 1689 Spaniard Alonso de Leon finds the remains of Fort St. Louis
Alonso de Leon reported favorably on the land of East Texas and the Caddo Indians
Father Damian Massanet who was with de Leon requested help from Mexico City to convert the Caddo, or the Tejas as they called them, to Catholicism

15. Spanish Missions in Texas 1650-1800

16. Missions The mission was Spain’s main tool for colonizing Texas.
Their purpose was to convert Native Texans to the Catholic faith,
In addition the mission workers attempted to convert the natives into Spanish subjects.
Missions in Texas were supported by the Catholic church, but they were designed to be self sufficient.
They also would help keep the French out of Texas

17. Most missions in Texas consisted of a square compound enclosed by four walls. They also had a main chapel which was at the center of life in the mission.
Early missions were small and made of wood. While later missions were large and built with stone.
The land around the mission was also used for animals and growing crops for food.

18. Spain’s First East Texas Mission
In 1690 de Leon and Massanet , a few other priest and 100 soldiers set off to build a mission in east Texas.
They build the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas
Reconstruction of San Francisco de los Tejas

19. A year later the mission was in trouble
A year later the mission was in trouble. Drought had caused the crops to fail.
Disease caused the Native Texans to become hostile & they refused to work in the missions
The Mission could not survive so in 1693 it was abandoned.

20. The French Return
By 1700 the French return to Louisiana and developed trading relationship with Native Americans
In 1713 Spanish Priest Father Francisco Hidalgo asked French priests to provide churches to East Texas Natives
The French sent Louis de St. Denis to visit Father Hidalgo

21. France and Spain were at war
But St. Denis and Hidalgo both wanted to convert the east Texas Indians.
Spanish government had St. Denis arrested
Spain decided to establish more missions to protect their territory

22. Spain Reclaims East Texas
In 1716 San Francisco de los Tejas was reopened
A mid-point for supply caravans was needed.
In modern day San Antonio the Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Mission San Antonio de Bexar was built.
Valero would become the Alamo

23. w
Mission San Antonio de Valero

24. The Chicken War
East Texas missions were unsuccessful because of the same reasons as before.
The Indians didn’t want to live in them.
In 1719 French Lt. Philippe Blondel “invaded” Texas with 6 soldiers. They captured a mission near Nacogdoches.

25. Blondel and his men looted the mission and Blondel took and tied a few chickens to his saddle.
The chickens made his horse buck (jump) and Blondel fell from his horse. The Spanish missionaries escaped when this happened.

26. The Incident referred to as “The Chicken War”
The escaped Spanish exaggerated the news claiming that a huge French army was invading
The Spanish panicked and retreated back to San Antonio abandoning East Texas
The Spanish realized how weak they were in Texas