Texas Missions : The Basic Facts A collaborative effort by 4 th grade teachers in Hays CISD

What is a mission? San Antonio National Historic ParkNational Historic Park 350 years of Texas History by Jim JonesJim Jones 2

Who lived in the missions? Click here to read about: The People and Economics of the missionshere 3

Where were missions in Texas? Map of missions in TexasMap Pictures of various missions in TexasPictures San Antonio Mission TrailSan Antonio 4

When were missions built in Texas? Timeline from Timeline The San Antonio MissionsSan Antonio 5

Why were missions built in Texas? Spain wanted land in Texas. France also wanted the same land. Spain established missions to protect their interests. They used native people they had converted to help them. Spain hoped that the resources in the Americas would pay for their exploration and colonization throughout the world. Spain wanted everyone to be a Catholic. Their goal was to convert the Native Americans to their way of worship and thinking. The churches in the missions served this function. For more information, click hereclick here 6

What were the important parts of a mission? Plan of Mission San JoseMission San Jose The Acequia SystemAcequia System Espada AqueductAqueduct The Convento or friaryConvento Presidio La BahiaPresidio 7

Learn more about the San Antonio Missions Mission Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion de Acuna Mission San Jose y San Maguel de Aguayo Mission San Juan Capistrano Mission San Francisco de la Espada Mission San Antonio de Valero 8

What were causes of missions to fail? Secularization Disease and overpopulation Expense 9

Texas Missions Today There were around 36 Spanish missions built in Texas during the 1600 and 1700s. Today only six of these missions still stand. None of them serve the same purpose as they did in the past. The Alamo is the most famous of all the missions. It is now a museum dedicated to the most significant battle fought during the Texas Revolution. Inside the structure you can view many interesting artifacts from that time period. Over one million people visit the Alamo every year.Alamo Missions San Jose, San Juan, Concepcion, and Espada are now used as Catholic churches. They are open to the public and run by the National Park Service.San JoseSan JuanConcepcionEspada Del Espiritu Nuestra Senora Santo de Zuniga mission serves as a museum in Goliad State Park.Del Espiritu Nuestra Senora Santo de Zuniga 10

Secularization Secularization is a big word that means people bought the land from the church. It means the Catholic Church no longer owns the land even though the church is still on the land. It began in 1784 with San Antonio de Valero and was completed in 1824 after Mexican Independence. San Antonio Mission—National Historic Park Back

Disease and Overpopulation Too many people were crammed in to the confines of the mission walls. There was not a proper system to dispose of human waste, so disease spread easily. Smallpox and measles were diseases that also spread quickly and added to the downfall of the missions. The Catholic Missions of Texas—G.E. Brown Back

Expense Spanish authorities began to realize the missions were costing too much. The profits from the missions did not pay for running them. Spain decided to push for secularization so they could at least profit from the sale of the land and mission buildings. A problem the Spanish officials thought might occur once they were gone, was that the Native Americans who had become accustomed to mission life would have no one to protect them. The Catholic Missions of Texas—G.E. Brown Back