Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain nominally claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after discovering evidence of the failed French colony of Fort Saint Louis in 1689. In 1690, Alonso De León escorted several Catholic missionaries to East Texas, where they established the first mission in Texas. When native tribes resisted the Spanish presence, the missionaries returned to Mexico, abandoning Texas for the next two decades.
The Spanish returned to East Texas in 1716, establishing several missions and a presidio to maintain a buffer between Spanish Territory and the French territory of Louisiana. Two years later, the first civilian settlement in Texas, San Antonio, was established as a way station between the missions and the nearest existing Spanish settlement. The new town quickly became a target for raids by the Lipan Apache. The raids continued periodically for almost three decades, until in 1749 the Spanish and the Apache made peace. The peace treaty angered the enemies of the Apache and resulted in raids on Spanish settlements by the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes. Fear of Indian attacks and remoteness from the rest of the viceroyalty discouraged settlers from moving to Texas, and it remained one of the least populated provinces of New Spain. The threat of Indian attacks did not decrease until 1785, when Spain reached a peace agreement with the Comanche, who later assisted in defeating the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes which had continued to cause difficulties for Spanish settlers. An increase in the number of missions in the province allowed for a peaceful conversion of other tribes, and by the end of the eighteenth century, only a small number of the hunting and gathering tribes in the area had not been Christianized.
France formally relinquished its claim to Texas in 1762, when French Louisiana was ceded to Spain. Louisiana's addition meant that Texas was no longer essential as a buffer province, and the easternmost settlements in Texas were disbanded, with the population relocated to San Antonio. In 1799, however, Spain gave Louisiana back to France, and shortly thereafter Napoleon sold the territory to the United States. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson insisted that the purchase included all land to the east of the Rocky Mountains and to the north of the Rio Grande. The dispute was not resolved until 1819, when Spain traded Florida to the United States in return for recognition of the Sabine River as Texas's eastern boundary.
During the Mexican War of Independence from 1810–1821, Texas experienced much turmoil. Governor Manuel María de Salcedo was overthrown by rebels in 1810, but persuaded his jailer to release him and assist him in organizing a countercoup. Three years later, the Republican Army of the North, comprised primarily of Indians and Americans, again overthrew the Texas government and executed Salcedo. The Spanish response was brutal, and by 1820 fewer than 2000 Hispanic citizens remained in Texas. Spain was forced to relinquish its control of New Spain in 1821, and Texas becoming a province of the newly formed nation of Mexico, leading to the period in Texas history known as Mexican Texas.
The Spanish left a deep mark on Texas. Their European livestock caused mesquite to spread inland while farmers tilled and irrigated the land, changing the landscape forever. Spanish language provided the names for many of the rivers, towns, and counties that currently exist, and Spanish architectural concepts still flourish. Although Texas eventually adopted much of the Anglo-American legal system, many Spanish legal practices were retained, including the concept of a homestead exemption and community property.
Location
Spanish Texas was a part of New Spain. On its southern edge, Texas was bordered by the province of Coahuila. The boundary between the provinces was set at the line formed by the Medina and the Nueces Rivers, 100 miles (161 km) northeast of the Rio Grande. On the east, Texas bordered French Louisiana. Although Spain claimed that the Red River formed the boundary between the two, France insisted that the border was the Sabine River, 45 miles (72 km) to the west.
Initial colonization attempts
Although Alonso Alvarez de Pineda claimed Texas for Spain in 1519, the area was largely ignored by Spain until the late seventeenth century. In 1685, the Spanish learned that France had established a colony in the area between New Spain and Florida. Believing the French colony was a threat to Spanish mines and shipping routes, Spanish King Carlos II's Council of War recommended that "Spain needed swift action 'to remove this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America. The greater the delay the greater the difficulty of attainment.'" Having no idea where to find the French colony, the Spanish launched ten expeditions—both land and sea—over the next three years. While unable to fulfill their original goal of locating the French settlement, the expeditions did provide Spain a deeper understanding of the geography of the Gulf Coast region. The last expedition, in 1689, discovered a French deserter living in southern Texas with the Coahuiltecans. In April 1689, the Frenchman helped guide the Spanish, under Alonso De León, to Fort Saint Louis, which had been destroyed by Karankawa Indians. De León's expedition also met representatives of the Caddo people, who lived between the Trinity and the Red Rivers. The Caddo expressed interest in learning about Christianity.
De León sent a report of his findings to Mexico City, where it "created instant optimism and quickened religious fervor." The Spanish government was convinced that the destruction of the French fort was "proof of God's 'divine aid and favor.'" In his report De León recommended that presidios be established along the Rio Grande, the Frio River, and the Guadalupe River and that missions be established among the Hasinai Indians, whom the Spanish called the Tejas , in East Texas. In Castilian Spanish, this was often written as the phonetic equivalent Texas , which became the name of the future province.
The viceroy approved the establishment of a mission but rejected the idea of presidios, primarily because New Spain was chronically short of funds. On March 26, 1690, De León set out with 110 soldiers and several missionaries. The group stopped first to burn Fort Saint Louis to the ground, and then they proceeded to East Texas. Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in late May, and its first mass was conducted on June 1. The missionaries refused to allow the unruly soldiers to remain near the missions, and when De León returned to Mexico later that year, only 3 of his initial 110 soldiers remained to assist the monks. Father Damien Massanet, the priest in charge of the mission, left on June 2 to meet the tribes north of the mission before returning to Mexico to request an additional 14 priests and 7 lay brothers.
On January 23, 1691, Spain appointed the first governor of Texas, General Domingo Terán de los Rios. Terán was ordered to help establish seven new missions, including two more among the Tejas Indians, four amongst the Kadohadochos, and one for the tribes near the Guadalupe River. He was only able to recruit 10 friars and 3 lay brothers. His expedition reached the existing mission in August 1691 and discovered that the priests there had established a second mission, Santisimo Nombre de Maria, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of San Francisco de los Tejas. One of the priests had died, leaving two to operate the missions. The Indians regularly stole their cattle and horses and were becoming insolent. With provisions running low, Terán chose not to establish any more missions. When he left Texas later that year, most of the missionaries chose to return with him, leaving only 3 religious people and 9 soldiers at the missions.
The group also left a smallpox epidemic. The Indians had no natural immunity to the disease and at first blamed the outbreak on the baptismal waters. After thousands of natives had succumbed, the survivors rose up against the missions. In 1693, the Caddo warned the Franciscans missionaries to leave the area or be killed. The missionaries buried the church bells and burned the mission, then returned to Mexico. Although this first Spanish attempt to settle Texas failed, it provided Spain an increased awareness of the terrain, rivers, and coastline of Texas and convinced the government that "even the most tractable of Indians" could only be converted "by a combination of coercion and persuasion." For the next 20 years, Spain again ignored Texas.
Conflict with France
During the early eighteenth century France again provided the impetus for Spain's interest in Texas. In 1699, French forts were established at Biloxi Bay and on the Mississippi River, ending Spain's exclusive control of the Gulf Coast. Although Spain "refused to concede France's right to be in Louisiana" and warned King Louis XIV of France that he could be excommunicated for ignoring the two-hundred-year-old papal edict giving the Americas to Spain, they took no further actions to stop France's encroachment or expand the Spanish presence. The two
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