colony · North America and Oceania
Spanish Texas
Origins
Alarmed by La Salle's French colony on Matagorda Bay, Spain sent Alonso de León to east Texas, where the mission of San Francisco de los Tejas was founded among the Hasinai Confederacy in 1690. It was abandoned in 1693, but French traders at Natchitoches prompted Spain to return in 1716, and in 1718 Martín de Alarcón founded San Antonio.
Rule and society
Texas was a military and missionary frontier of New Spain. Franciscan missions, among them San Antonio de Valero, later known as the Alamo, gathered Coahuiltecan peoples, while presidios guarded the roads. From 1729 to 1772 the capital was Los Adaes, near the French border; it then moved to San Antonio de Béxar. Canary Islanders settled San Antonio in 1731, and ranching thrived. Apache and Comanche raids constrained settlement until a peace with the Comanche in 1785.
Decline and legacy
The province suffered in the Mexican War of Independence, including a republican revolt crushed at the Medina River in 1813. In 1821 it passed to independent Mexico, and Anglo-American colonists under Stephen F. Austin began arriving, leading eventually to the Republic of Texas.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Spanish Texas was part of New Spain1690 CE – 1821 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Spanish Texas. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/spanish-texas
- MLA
- “Spanish Texas.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/spanish-texas. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Spanish Texas.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/spanish-texas.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Spanish Texas’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/spanish-texas (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻