Chapter 5 (Missions and Settlements) Lecture Notes
Part I Notes must be recorded in your journal as Cornell Notes. Part I Notes, along with
your Chapter 5 Guided Reading questions will make up your exam.
Part II Notes are not required to be recorded, but should be used as reference. They are
simply an outline of Chapter 5.
Part I Notes
I. Key Vocabulary
1) Civil Settlements – a village made up of people who were neither priests nor soldiers.
2) Colonization – claim for and control by a distant nation.
3) Mission – a settlement founded to spread Christianity to the people of the area.
4) Missionary – one who is sent to do religious or charitable work in a territory or foreign
country
5) Presidio – a military post or fortified settlement in an area under Spanish control
6) Vaquero – cowboy
II. Overview of the Spanish Colonial Period
Why do Historians divide the past into eras? History is divided into eras so it is easier to
identify the causes and effects of the great events/people in history.
For example, in our study of Texas history before the Civil War, we divide history into
the following eras:
-Exploration Era
-Spanish Colonial Period
-Mexican Texas
-Texas Revolution
-Texas Republic
-Early Statehood
Some of the characteristics of the Spanish Colonial period include
· Roman Catholic religion
· Missions and Presidios used to claim land
· Civil Settlements
· Canary Islanders
· Founding of San Antonio
· Camino Real
It is important that you be able to sequence important historical events. The sequence of
significant events during the Spanish Colonial period include:
· 1682 – Spaniards establish the first Texas mission at Corpus Cristi de la Ysleta
· 1718 – Founding of San Antonio
· 1731 – East Texas missions are moved to San Antonio
· 1749 – La Bahia Mission moved from Guadalupe River to Goliad
· 1782 – Mission San Jose is completed in San Antonio and other missions are built
· 1810 – Father Hidalgo’s speech encourages Mexicans, Texans, and others to fight for
independence
Part II Notes
Section 5-1: First Missions are Built
I. Spain Looks to Texas
A. In 1682 Spanish friars founded the mission of Corpus Christi de la Ysleta near
present-day El Paso.
B. During the 1690s Spain concentrated on building missions, presidios, and
towns in eastern Texas, near Louisiana.
II. A Tejas Mission
A. De León led his troops northeast and met a large group of Hasinai people.
They called them the Tejas, a word meaning “friend.”
B. In 1690 Father Damian Massanet established the mission San Francisco de
las Tejas near the present-day town of Weches.
III. A Mission Abandoned
A. The mission failed because crops failed, disease killed many Native Americans, and
the Tejas rejected the Catholic religion.
B. The experiment strengthened Spain’s claim to Texas.
C. From 1693 to 1714, Spanish settlements along the Rio Grande flourished.
D. Mission San Juan Bautista was located five miles from the Rio Grande. It
eventually grew into a complex of three missions, a presidio, and a town and was called
“Mother of Texas Missions.”
IV. France Threatens Again
A. The French established colonies throughout the Mississippi Valley several
years after La Salle’s venture in the 1680s.
B. French traders won Native Americans’ friendship and made large profits trading.
C. The French governor appointed Louis de St. Denis, who had traded successfully
with Native Americans in Louisiana, to negotiate with the Spanish officials on the Rio
Grande.
D. The Spanish became alarmed, thinking that the French were trying to occupy East
Texas.
E. Although St. Denis insisted that France had no plans to occupy East Texas, the
Spanish viceroy ordered new missions to be built in East Texas, and trade between the
Spanish and French was stopped.
Section 5-2: Spanish Settlements
I. Missions Are Established in East Texas
A. In 1716 a large Spanish force led Spanish families to the site of San Francisco de los
Tejas.
B. It was the first time the Spanish came to settle in East Texas.
II. San Antonio Is Founded
A. In 1718 the Spanish built a fort-town, Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, on
one side of the San Antonio River.
B. Many soldiers brought families to settle permanently.
C. Across the river, Father Antonio de San Buenaventura Olivares founded
Mission San Antonio de Valero.
III. Aguayo Defends the Missions
A. In 1719 war broke out between Spain and France.
B. French soldiers seized the Spanish mission near Nacogdoches.
C. In the spring of 1721, the governor of Coahuila, San Aguayo led a large group of
soldiers and settlers into
East Texas and reestablished the abandoned missions.
Discussion Question
Discussion Question
IV. Aguayo Founds Two Cities
A. Aguayo built a large presidio named Nuestra Señora del Pilar de los Adaes.
B. One hundred soldiers and their families started a village nearby.
C. Spanish authorities made Los Adaes the capital of Texas in 1722, and it
remained the capital for 50 years.
D. Aguayo established a mission and presidio near the ruins of La Salle’s fort.
E. The mission and presidio later were moved to the San Antonio River, near
present-day Goliad.
F. The Spanish named the settlement La Bahía.
V. An Uneasy Peace
A. To reduce expenses, Spanish officials in 1727 abandoned the presidio on
the Angelina River and reduced the number of soldiers at Los Adaes.
B. The Spanish and French peacefully accepted a small stream between Los
Adaes and Natchitoches as a boundary.
Discussion Question
VI. Plains People Resent Missions
A. Native American people of the Plains, however, resented missionaries
who were seen as intruders on their hunting grounds.
B. Apaches regularly raided San Antonio, and Comanches fought the invaders.
C. Despite the danger, Catholic missionaries between 1748 and 1751 founded
three missions along the San Gabriel River near present-day Rockdale.
D. The missionaries suffered many misfortunes, and the Spanish friars abandoned
one mission and moved the other two closer to San Antonio.
VII. San Sabá Mission Fails
A. In 1757 missionaries founded Mission San Sabá near Menard, and soldiers
built a presidio a few miles away.
B. The mission failed to Christianize the Plains people.
Lesson 5-3: Building Communities
I. Life in the Missions
A. Native American people lived close to the missions, and friars worked to
teach them the Spanish way of life.
B. Friars gave gifts to attract them, and sometimes the Spaniards used force
to get Native Americans to settle nearby.
C. After prayers and breakfast, Native American children at the missions
attended school and received religious instruction.
D. Women wove cloth, made pottery, or cooked, while the men worked in
the fields or did carpentry or blacksmithing.
E. In the evenings after supper, adults received instruction in religion and
had prayers.
F. Food was plentiful in most missions, which kept large herds of livestock;
farms produced rich harvests, especially at San Antonio and Goliad.
G. Native Americans learned trades and learned to speak Spanish.
H. The missions provided good shelter for them and a kitchen for each family.
I. Most Native Americans, however, refused to stay at the missions and to
abandon their traditional way of life.
II. Soldiers Face Hardships
A. Spanish soldiers, who had the duty to protect the missions and settlements
and control Native Americans, led a hard, dangerous life.
B. Most of the soldiers brought their families and farmed for a living, too.
C. Often poorly equipped, they lived under hard conditions.
D. They traded with and took advantage of Native Americans at the missions.
III. Important Settlements in Spanish Texas
A. San Antonio was the largest settlement, and by 1772 it was the capital.
B. Other important civilian settlements were Goliad, Los Adaes, and Nacogdoches.
C. San Antonio was the only settlement in Texas in which people had a voice
in their government.
D. To increase the population of San Antonio, Spanish authorities brought
families from the Canary Islands to settle.
E. Some Canary Islanders became prosperous and prominent.
IV. Living in Spanish Texas
A. Some people in Texas made their living by farming, ranching, and shop keeping;
others worked as shoemakers, fishers, barbers, blacksmiths, and tailors.
B. Spanish Texas consisted of mestizos and free African Americans who
worked as farmers, ranchers, merchants, carpenters, domestics, or miners.
C. Most men and women were married, but a high percentage of households
were headed by widows.
D. Women also were storekeepers, ranchers, and farm managers.
E. Doña Rosa María Hinojosa de Ballí, an early rancher, owned about a third
of the present-day lower Rio Grande Valley in 1798.
V. A Tejano Heritage Takes Shape
A. The term Tejano describes people of Mexican heritage who consider Texas
their home.
B. Tejano heritage is reflected in the religion, language, and customs of
Texas today.
C. Settlers tried to improve community life by hiring schoolteachers.
D. Public officials tried to guard public health by forbidding the dumping of
trash and the washing of clothes in the drinking water supply.
E. Communities sponsored dances, horse races, and holiday fairs in the plazas.