Spanish Missions1500-1580

Pgs. 195-200

Matching Activity

Spanish Conquistadors

• The Spanish Conquistadors who explored America found gold and silver.

• Mining for gold and silver became the most important money-making activity in Spain’s American colonies.

• To protect its gold and silver mines, the Spanish built presidos.

• A presido is a fort built in a buffer (land that serves as a barrier) for protection

St. Augustine• The largest and most important presidio

was named St. Augustine.

• It was located on the Atlantic coast of Florida on a bay first explored by Ponce de Leon.

• St. Augustine was built in 1565.

• It was the first permanent European settlement in America.

• It was founded 42 years before the English landed at Jamestown.

Building St. Augustine

• The Spanish were fearful of English pirates and Indian raiders.

• To strengthen St. Augustine, they built stone walls around the wooden fort.

• It took 25 years to complete.

• St. Augustine served as Spain’s military headquarters in North America.

Spain’s Interest in America

1. Grow the Spanish empire.

2. Expand its economy.

3. Spread the Catholic faith

Ranches and Haciendas

• Realizing that gold was scarce, many Spanish settlers made money by raising livestock and selling the hides and animal fats to nearby markets.

• Settlers often traded with the Pueblo Indians for corn, pottery, and cloth.

• Settlers built large haciendas or houses where they raised thousands of cattle and sheep.

• The settlers wanted to be self-sufficient.

Indian Tribes

• The settlers brought horses (long extinct) to America which changed the life of the Plains Indians.

• The Plains Indians learned to tame the horses and use them as transportation which helped them in hunting and warfare.

• The Navajos learned to raise sheep and weave the wool into colorful clothing and blankets.

Spanish Missions• The first Spanish Mission was Nombre de

Dios or Name of God.

• It was built near St. Augustine in 1565.

• It was the first in a chain of missions that would link the Atlantic coast to the Pacific.

• Father Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary, helped build a string of 21 missions in California.

Spanish Missions

• When the Spanish built a mission, it included a church, ranch and farm buildings.

• Some missions were built near Indian villages.

• The Spanish would bring livestock, fruit trees, and seeds for crops.

• The goal was for the mission to become self-sufficient.

Relations with the Indians

• The Spanish and Indians learned from one another.

• The Indians taught the Spanish how to build adobe houses and how to use herbs as medicines.

• The Spanish taught the Indians how to guide a plow instead of using a stick and hoe in the Indian way.

Relations with the Indians

• Over time relations between the Spanish and Indians changed.

• Many Indians were forced to give up their religious traditions, many were forced to work against their will, and missionaries used cruel treatment to control the Indians.

• Some Indians fought back killing missionaries and destroying churches.

El Camino Real

• To protect its missions the Royal Road (El Camino Real) was built to connect missions with presidos.

• The first section was built in the middle 1500s and stretched for more than 600 miles.

• Many cities such as San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California began as missions.