Spanish Settlement in

TexasChapter 6

The Requerimiento

• A written declaration of domination & war read by Spanish conquistadores to natives of the Americas requiring their loyalty to Spain.

• To resist would mean war.

Bartolome de las Casas

• A Spanish friar & historian whose writings argued that the natives of the Americas were human.

• As a result, he was appointed as the “Protector of the Indians”

Purpose of Missions

• Missions were Spain’s main way of colonizing & displaying power

• Missions were used to convert natives to Catholicism

• Missions were used to provide protection for the Spanish

Spanish Missions

1682: The Spanish

established the 1st Texas mission at

Corpus Cristi de la Ysleta

(El Paso)

Spanish Missions

• In 1718, Mission San Antonio de Valero was established along the San Antonio River.

• This mission later became known as the Alamo.

Spanish Missions

OMost Spanish missions in Texas were built near bodies of water, such as rivers.

Ranches• Ranches were

more beneficial to where missions were succeeding.

• Cattle were easier to raise & protect than farming

Fray Damian Massanet

OConvinced the viceroy of New Spain to colonize East Texas & convert the Caddoes to Catholicism

OMany missions were established even though they were failures