Transcript The Spanish Missions - Worley Texas History

The Spanish Missions
1680’S – 1760’S
Mission
 Religious communities
 Used to convert the
American Indians to
Catholicism

worship, speak English, read,
write, Spanish songs and
dances, and farming
 Built near rivers
 Most built along the Rio
Grande or in East Texas
 Many Indians attacked
rather than change their
culture

Schedule:
 7am-8 am=religious
services
 8am-6pm=work
 6pm-7pm=prayers and
dinner
Presidios
 Military bases
 Built of adobe, stone and timber
 Stockade-wall surrounding the fort
 Protected several missions from Indian attacks
 Soldiers job- protect the mission and supervise
Indians
Civil Settlements and ranchos
 Provided products and services for missions and
presidios
 Well defined streets that led past homes and
buildings
 Ayuntamiento – governing council
 Alcalde – mayor, sheriff, and judge
The French in East Texas
 1682 – French explorer La Salle sailed down the
Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico


Claimed all Mississippi lowlands for France
Named the region “Louisiana” for King Louis XIV
 In order to expand Louisiana, La Salle also claimed
East Texas

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Shh…it’s a secret
Matagorda Bay – Obese-ly Fat
La Salle and Fort St. Louis
 Established Fort St. Louis
 Small houses, fort, chapel with 8 cannons
 No supplies
 Attacks by Karankawa
 La Salle murdered by his own men
 Ended in disaster
 But…
 Gave France a claim to Texas
 Challenged Spain's empire north of the
Rio Grande
Spain answers back
 Hasinai = Tejas
 Alonso de Leon and Father Massanet claimed East
Texas for Spain
 Built San Francisco de los Tejas to convert the Tejas

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Droughts and floods ruin crops
Deaths due to disease
Tension amongst Spaniards and the Tejas
Tejas did not want religious instruction
 Spaniards burned mission to ground in 1693
 First Spanish mission in East Texas ended in failure
Spain in East Texas
 Sent priests, soldiers and their wives, and civilians
 Brought gifts for the Tejas
 Built Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas and
five other missions

Built Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de los Tejas presidio
Spanish in San Antonio
 Needed missions in between East Texas and the Rio
Grande
 Martin de Alarcon (governor or Texas), in 1718, built a
mission along the San Antonio River
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San Antonio de Valero-mission
San Antonio de Bexar-presidio
Villa de Bexar-civil settlement
 Became the most successful missions in Texas
 Named road between the East Texas, San Antonio and the
Rio Grande El Camino Real, or the Royal Road
1718! 1718! 1718! 1718! 1718! 1718!
 Martin de Alarcon established a mission and presidio
at the site of present day San Antonio
Catholic
heritage and
missions
Routes of
first
Texas
roads
Many
Spanish
place
names
Examples of Spanish
Influence in Texas
Culture
(architecture
, art, food,
language,
music)
Legal
traditions
Cattle
ranching
traditions
and terms