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

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

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??

Fort St. Louis

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

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.

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

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

Spanish Missions in Texas 1650-1800

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

w Mission San Antonio de Valero

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.

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.

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