Chapter 3 Section 5
“Spanish Colonies on the Borderlands”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
*While English colonies were forming along the
coast, Spanish colonies in the Americas were
already hundreds of years old
Spanish Florida
*1565 – fearing France would take over area,
Spain built a fort called St. Augustine in northern
Florida (first permanent European settlement)
*1693 – to weaken the spreading English colonies,
Spanish announced enslaved Africans who
escaped to Florida would be protected and given
land if they helped defend the Spanish colony
*1700s – hundreds of enslaved African Americans
fled to Florida
*1763 – only three major Spanish settlements in
Spanish Florida; all centered around forts and all
in north (Spanish had little control over rest of
Florida)
Settling the Spanish Borderlands
*Spain’s most important colonies were in Mexico
and South America; territories north of Mexico
called “borderlands” – lands along a frontier
*Main function of Spanish borderlands was to
protect Mexico from other European powers
*Borderlands include
-Florida
-most of Texas (humid lowlands)
-New Mexico, Arizona, Utah (deserts and mts)
-Colorado (highlands and mts)
-California (deserts in SE corner)
Juan de Oñate in New Mexico
*First Spanish explorers did not start permanent
settlements
*1598 – Oñate led expedition into NM to find gold,
convert Native Americans to Christianity, and
establish permanent colony (Santa Fe)
*Oñate brought 300 horses and Spanish used
Native Americans to look after horses; when some
Native Americans ran away, they spread the skill
of horseback riding from one Native American
group to another.
*Native Americans suffered under Spanish rule
*1680 – Native Americans in NM rebelled and
drove Spanish from the region
Missions in Texas and Arizona
*Roman Catholic missions (religious settlements
that aim to spread a religion into a new area)
established to convert Native Americans to
Christianity
*In missions, priests taught Christianity and made
Native Americans work by set rules
*San Antonio, TX was only mission that attracted
Spanish colonists (although failed to convert
Native Americans to Christianity)
Missions Along the California Coast
*Spain began colonizing California in 1769
*Junipero Serra, missionary, helped establish
missions that later became San Diego, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles
*Spanish founded almost 20 missions in CA
between 1769 and 1800
Presidios and Pueblos
*Spain set up presidios – military posts – to
defend missions
*Spanish established pueblos – civilian towns –
which served as centers of farming and trade;
center of town was plaza where townspeople and
farmers came to do business or worship at the
church
Life in Spanish Missions
*Native Americans worked in missions by
farming, building churches, and learning a variety
of crafts
*They were treated fairly but did not have control
over their lives; punished if violated mission rules
(imprisoned, kept in shackles, whipped)
*Native Americans rebelled against treatment as
thousands died from disease and living conditions