WHAT DO YOU KNOW

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Spanish Texas? It is believed that the shoreline from Florida to Texas was first viewed by a Spaniard as early as 1519. Spanish explorers came long before the English settled the Atlantic Coast of North America______ Strong, proud Spain struggled to persuade its own citizens to colonize the vast and remote lands in North America, so in 1820, it opened up Texas to Anglo Americans. After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, sparsely populated Texas became part of the Mexican Nation. Both Mexicans and U. S. citizens, wanting inexpensive land to farm and ranch, flocked to Tejas. This accounts for the myriad of Spanish names for towns, counties, rivers and creeks, mountains and islands.______ Spaniards brought horses. Many became wild, multiplied and were acquired and tamed by Indians. Spanish laws had established land ownership, water rights, community property and inheritance by daughters and widows. Crops were brought and irrigation was implemented. Presidios (forts) were built for protection.______ It all began with the Spanish explorers. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda’s 270 men were the first Europeans to view the Texas coast. Later shipwrecked survivors of Panfilo de Narvaez’s expedition (1528) were tossed by a storm onto the island of Galveston.______ Early Spanish explorers Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and two companions and a slave named Estevanico were shipwrecked and lived with Indians on the gulf coast of Texas for seven years. Unlike others, they became revered by the natives. Their incredible trek that ends in Mexico City (1536) may be a tale for a future article.______ Francisco Vazques de Coronado with 2000 men, including friendly Indian guides, explored land to the north and west of Texas (1539-1542). They were the first to encounter Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas, the pueblos of New Mexico, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.______ Hernando De Soto and Luis de Moscoso Alvarado covered ten states including Florida and routes to the north. When De Soto died in 1542, Moscoso lead the expedition into Texas. Their trek ended in Mexico. In the 1540s, the Coronado and the DeSoto/Moscoso explorers were rivals looking for the “Seven Cities of Gold.” Both groups were bitterly disappointed by never finding any evidence of them. They had captured Indians as slave laborers, preyed upon native women and left grief and near extinction from the white man’s smallpox and measles.______ The early missionaries to Texas were motivated by Church and the explorers, by Gold and Glory. Today this universal truth prevails, so let me wish everyone a happy new year with filled with a choice of peace or prosperity, or both.______ Carole Sikes 12/2021 Ref: Texas State Historical Association’s Hand book of Texas by Harriet Joseph and Donald Chipman First published 1996, updated 2021.