Unit 3 Spanish Era
The Aztecs suffered the most from the European explorers who came to North America and South America in search of wealth and glory
Alonso de Pineda’s exploration of the Texas coastline provides our earliest knowledge about Texas
Cabeza de Vaca failed expedition which started in Florida between 1528-1536 had a positive result by him giving us the earliest knowledge of the land and people of Texas after being shipwrecked at Galveston and exploring Texas for seven years
Francisco Coronado’s exploration of Texas in the High Plains searching for Quivira has him writing about the buffalo which he refers to as cows
Luis de Moscoso explored East Texas and found no riches just oil, this could be one reason why he headed back to Mexico City the capitol of New Spain
Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle the French explorer presented a threat to Spanish claims to Texas when he over shot the Mississippi River and ended up in Texas
The Spanish explorers never found gold in Texas, however, knowledge of the land was gained, maps were made of parts of Texas, and Spanish claim to Texas were made
The French explorer La Salle’s claim to Texas with the creation of Fort St. Louis caused Spain to feel threatened. This caused Spain to start back the mission system in Texas
The purpose of Missions which were Catholic establishments were to teach the Spanish agriculture way of life, to convert Native Americans to Christianity, and to look after Spanish interest in Texas.
Presidios were built soon after missions to help protect the missions from hostile Native American attacks. After the Native Americans were under control civil settlements could develop
Many Native Americans chose to live the mission way of life because of disease, attacks on missions, and a resistant to changing their way of life
The population increase at the civil settlements caused a rich Tejano culture to develop this helped spread the language, the religion of Catholic schools and churches and customs such as the fiestas
The mission San Antonio de Valero was founded so that Spain would have an outpost of supplies for the East Texas missions
War between Spain and France in Europe caused Spain to stop missionary efforts in Texas because Spain needed the resources to fight the war rather than build missions
When Spain received the Louisiana territory from France as a result of England’s win in the Seven Year War, Spain then had the abandonment of the East Texas missions because France was no longer a threat in Texas
In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte forced Spain to give back France the Louisiana territory in North America then in 1803 France sold this land to the United States for fifteen million
The Neutral Ground was a place outlaws and criminals would escape to since Spain or the United States could not enforce law
Mexico received their independence from Spain in 1821 however few Spanish settlers came to Texas because there was no gold, Mexico had many areas of fertile land, and Mexico city had more to interest Spaniards Texas does not become part of the United States tell 1845
Corpus Christi de la Ysleta- first mission built in Texas near El Paso
San Francisco de los Tejas- 1st mission in East Texas
San Antonio de Valero- outpost mission halfway between the Rio Grande and Nacogdoches
Santa Cruz de San Saba- failed mission near hostile Indian territory
La Bahia- mission that moved near Goliad
San Antonio was a good location for a settlement because it had natural resources and a central location
The Spanish have influenced the culture of Texas with their food, music, customs and language
Missions and presidios were created to look after the King of Spain’s land in New Spain. Soldiers in the presidios had a hard life and often were poorly equipped and had the dangerous job of protecting the missions and civil settlements