Texas: Spanish Exploration and Colonization

The region that is now Texas was early known to the Spanish, who were, however, slow to settle there. Cabeza de Vaca, shipwrecked off the coast in 1528, wandered through the area in the 1530s, and Coronado probably crossed the northwest section in 1541. De Soto died before reaching Texas, but his men continued west, crossing the Red River in 1542. The first Spanish settlement was made (1682) at Ysleta on the site of present day El Paso by refugees from the area that is now New Mexico after the Pueblo revolt of 1680. Several missions were established in the area; but the Comanche, Apache, and other Native American tribes resented their encroachment, and the settlements did not flourish.

A French expedition led by La Salle penetrated E Texas in 1685 after failing to locate the mouth of the Mississippi. This incursion, though brief, stirred the Spanish to establish missions to hold the area. The first mission, founded in 1690 near the Neches, was named Francisco de los Tejas after the so-called tejas [friends]: Native Americans. This is also the origin of the state's name. In general, however, Spanish attempts to gain wealth from the wild region and to convert the indigenous population were unsuccessful, and in most places occupation was desultory.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Industry in the Late Twentieth Century
• Oil, Industrialization, and World Wars
• The Late Nineteenth Century
• Civil War and Reconstruction
• The Texas Republic and U.S. Annexation
• Independence from Mexico
• American Expeditions and Settlement
• Spanish Exploration and Colonization
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Places of Interest
• West Texas
• High Plains
• Blackland Prairies
• Rio Grande Valley
• Gulf Coast
• East Texas
• Geography
• Facts and Figures
• Bibliography

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