Chapter 4:
Spanish Rule in Texas
1682-1821

settlement designed to convert Native Americans to
Christianity a Spanish fort that protects a mission a set of questions and answers about Christian faith the rapid spread of a disease in a short time to formally give up ownership of something a person who wages an unofficial war on a country rank a person occupies based on wealth, birthplace, etc.
a person who attacks and steals from ships on the sea government in which elected leaders represent the people people who want to limit changes and keep old ways

• After they learned about La Salle’s fort in Texas, the Spanish feared they might lose that area.
• They decided to build missions and presidios to gain better control of Texas.
• Missions were settlements built in Native American territory. They were run by religious teachers called friars.
Native Americans who lived there were supposed to learn
Christianity and Spanish ways of life. They wanted Native
Americans to be Christians and loyal Spanish subjects.
• The goal was to make Texas more Spanish and increase settlement there.

• Missions were protected by presidios.
• Presidios were forts run by Spanish soldiers that offered safety from unfriendly Native Americans and helped control the Native Americans in the missions.
• The Spanish government paid the missionaries and the costs of starting the missions and presidios.
• The first missions were built in West Texas.
• Near present-day El Paso, the Spanish built the mission of
Corpus Christi de la Ysleta among the Tiguas in 1682.
• About a year later, Spain set up missions near present-day
Presidio.

• There were no missions or settlements in East Texas.
However, La Salle’s arrival along the Gulf Coast changed that. Spain’s mission efforts turned to the east.
• In 1690, Alonso de Leon (led the search for La Salle’s fort) and Father Damian Massanet established the first mission in
East Texas. San Francisco de los Tejas was located 20 miles northeast of present-day Crockett.
• Shortly afterward, Spanish friars started a second mission in East Texas called Santisimo Nombre de Maria.
• The mission failed due to conflict with the Hasinai (Tejas) people. The Spanish left the two missions.

• In 1711, Father Francisco Hidalgo, a Spanish missionary, wrote to the French governor of Louisiana asking for help with building missionaries. He sent Louis Juchereau de St.
Dennis (a French trader).
• St. Dennis helped establish 6 missions and a presidio.
• One of the missions, Los Adaes(1717), was about 15 miles from Natchitoches. In order to keep an eye on French activity in the area, the Spanish decided to make it the capital of Texas.

• In 1719, Spain and France went to war in Europe (The
Chicken War). French soldiers raided the Los Adaes mission and found little there besides some chickens. The Spanish panicked and abandoned the missions and retreated to San
Antonio de Valero, a mission built in 1718 between the Rio
Grande and East Texas.
• The war was over by 1721, and Spain regained control.
• Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo led an effort to rebuild old missions and establish new ones.
• In 1722, he established La Bahia (moved twice) which became present-day Goliad.

• Apaches, Comanches, Wichitas, and Tonkawas raided the missions.
The Apaches took many Spanish lives and stole horses and cattle.
• In 1749, the Spanish and Apaches made peace.
• The Apaches agreed to convert to Christianity if the Spanish protected them from the Comanches.
• The Spanish built Santa Cruz de San Saba Mission for the Apaches.
They convinced the Spanish to build it in Comanche territory. The
Spanish did not know what the Apaches had planned. The Apaches hoped to start a war between the Comanches and the Spanish.
• In 1758, about 2,000 Comanches, Wichitas, and Tonkawas came in search of the Apaches.
• They burned down the mission and killed most of the missionaries.
• The relationship between the Spanish and Apaches remained poor.

Missions
(Year Built)
Key Facts
Corpus Christi de la
Ysleta (1682)
San Francisco de los
Tejas (1690)
Built in West Texas among the Tiguas
Near modern El Paso
The first mission in East Texas
Failed due to conflict with the Tejas people
Los Adaes (1717) About 15 miles from French Natchitoches
Became the capital of Spanish Texas
Raided by the French in the Chicken War
San Antonio de Valero
(1718)
Halfway between Rio Grande and East Texas
Protected by a presidio; Called “the Alamo”
La Bahia (1722) Built after war with France
Became Goliad
Santa Cruz de San
Saba (1757)
Meant for Apaches
Destroyed by Comanches and other hostile
Native Americans in 1758

1) Why did the Spanish build missions?
2) What is the purpose of a presidio?
3) Why did the Apaches want Santa Cruz de San Saba mission built on Comanche land?
4) What was the war between Spain and France in
1719 called?