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In 1682 Spanish friars founded the first permanent settlement of Europeans in Texas—the mission Corpus Christi de la Ysleta near El Paso.

New Spain starts colonizing Texas with the mission system.

Missions…were Spain’s main way of colonizing & were expected to support themselves.

The first missions were established in the El Paso area, then East Texas and finally in the San Antonio area.

Missions were used to convert the Natives to the Catholic faith and make loyal subjects to Spain.

Presidios were built nearby to house soldiers and protect the mission and townspeople.

Towns and settlements were built near the missions and colonists were brought in for colonies to grow and survive. The first group of colonists to establish a community was the Canary Islanders in San Antonio (1730).

Ranches were more conducive to where missions and settlements were thriving (San Antonio). Cattle was easier to raise and protect than farming.

Spanish officials learned of La Salle's fort in Texas soon after it was built.

Spanish immediately sent troops led by Alonso de León, the governor of Coahuila, to destroy it.

He reached the site on April 22, 1689, only to find the fort deserted and in ruins.

De León then led his troops northeast. Near the Colorado River, they met a large group of Hasinai people, whom they called the Tejas, a word meaning "friend."

Angelina, a Hasinai woman, served as guide and interpreter.

Fray Damián Massanet, a Catholic priest, promised he would return to help the Hasanai and Caddo people.

Massanet, 3 other friar and about 100 soldiers return to establish the first Spanish mission in East Texas named San Francisco de los Tejas in near Weches.

The mission failed because crops failed, disease killed many natives and the Tejas rejected the Catholic religion.

But the experiment will strengthen Spain’s claim to Texas.

From 1693 to 1714, Spain made no effort to settle Texas. But their settlements along the Rio Grande flourished.

Mission San Juan Bautista along the Rio Grande was called the "Mother of Texas Missions" because it was the base for many expeditions whose aims were to establish missions in East Texas. It provided grain, cattle, and horses to the missionaries on these expeditions.

French- not interested in taking

territory or converting the Native Americans to Catholicism.

French traders won the friendship of many Native groups, and the French made large profits exchanging blankets, guns, and wine for furs and skins.

The French also hoped to trade with Spanish merchants in Mexico, but Spanish law prohibited foreigners from trading in the colonies of New Spain.

Spanish- God, Gold, Glory

A Spanish priest named Francisco Hidalgo asks French Catholic priests to help create a mission in East Texas because the Spanish will not.

The unexpected arrival of the French party led by Louis de St. Denis alarmed Captain Diego Ramón, the east Texas’s presidio's commander. He arrested St. Denis and sent him to Mexico City to be examined by the viceroy. St. Denis insisted that France had no plans to occupy East Texas.

The Spanish viceroy and his council, or advisers, did not believe St. Denis.

The Spanish ordered new missions to be built in East Texas with Spanish soldiers to protect them.

Trade between the Spanish and French was stopped.