History of Texas

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This article is about the general history of Texas. For recent history, see Texas.

Part of a series on the

History of Texas

Timeline

Pre-Columbian Texas

Early Spanish explorations 1519–

French Texas 1684–1689

Spanish Texas 1690–1821

Mexican Texas 1821–1836

Republic of Texas 1836–1845

Statehood 1845–1860

Civil War Era 1861–1865

Reconstruction 1865–1899

State of Texas

 Texas portal

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The recorded history of Texas begins with the arrival of the

first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas in
1519, who found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The
name Texas derives from táyshaʼ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai,
which means "friends" or "allies."[1][2][3][4] Native Americans' ancestors had been in what is
now Texas, more than 10,000 years ago as evidenced by the discovery of the remains
of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady. During the period of recorded history from 1519 AD to
1848, all or parts of Texas were claimed by five countries: France, Spain, Mexico,
the Republic of Texas, and the United States of America, as well as
the Confederacy during the Civil War.
The first European base was established in 1680, along the upper Rio Grande river,
near modern El Paso, with the exiled Spaniards and Native Americans from
the Isleta Pueblo during the Pueblo Revolt, also known as Popé's Rebellion, from
today's northern New Mexico. In 1685, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643–
1687), established a French colony at Fort Saint Louis, after sailing down and exploring
the Mississippi River from New France (modern Canada) and the Great Lakes. He
planted this early French presence at Fort Saint Louis near Matagorda Bay, along
the Gulf of Mexico coast (near modern Inez, Texas), even before the establishment
of New Orleans on the lower Mississippi River. The colony was killed off by Native
Americans after three years, but Spanish authorities felt pressed to establish
settlements to keep their claim to the land. Several Roman Catholic missions were
established in East Texas; they were abandoned in 1691. Twenty years later,
concerned with the continued French presence in neighboring Louisiana, Spanish
authorities again tried to colonize Texas. Over the next 110 years, Spain established
numerous villages, presidios, and missions in the province. A small number of Spanish
settlers arrived, in addition to missionaries and soldiers. Spain signed agreements with
colonists from the United States, bordering the province to the northeast ever since
their Louisiana Purchase from the Emperor Napoleon I and his French Empire (France)
in 1803. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican Texas was
part of the new nation. To encourage settlement, Mexican authorities allowed organized
immigration from the United States, and by 1834, over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas,
[5]
 compared to 7,800 Mexicans.[6]
 After Santa Anna's dissolution of the Constitution of 1824 and his political shift to the
right, issues such as lack of access to courts, the militarization of the region's
government (e.g., response to Saltillo-Monclova problem), and self-defense issues
resulting in the confrontation in Gonzales, turned public sentiment in Mexican and Anglo
Texans towards revolution. Santa Anna's invasion of the territory after putting down
the rebellion in Zacatecas provoked conflict in 1836, and between 1835 and 1836,
the Texian forces fought and won the Texas Revolution.
Although not recognized as such by Mexico, Texas declared itself an independent
nation, the Republic of Texas. Attracted by the rich lands for cotton plantations and
ranching, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived from the U.S. and from Germany as
well. In 1845, Texas joined the United States, becoming the 28th state, when the United
States annexed it. Only after the conclusion of the Mexican–American War, with
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, did Mexico recognize Texan independence.
Texas declared its secession from the United States in 1861 to join the Confederate
States of America. Only a few battles of the American Civil War were fought in Texas;
most Texas regiments served in the east. When the war ended, enslaved African
Americans were freed after ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation. Texas was
subject to Reconstruction after the Civil War was over. Later on, White Democrats
gained political dominance and passed laws in the late 19th century creating second-
class status for blacks in a Jim Crow system of segregation which included
disenfranchising them from voting in 1901 through passage of a poll tax. Black residents
were excluded from the formal political system until after passage of federal civil rights
legislation in the mid-1960s.
In early Texas statehood, things such as cotton, ranching, and farming dominated the
economy, along with railroad construction. After 1870, railroads were a major factor in
the development of new cities away from rivers and waterways. Toward the end of the
19th century, timber became an important industry in Texas as well. In 1901,
a petroleum discovery at Spindletop Hill, near Beaumont, was developed as the most
productive oil well the world had ever seen. The wave of oil speculation and discovery
that followed came to be known as the "Texas Oil Boom", permanently transforming and
enriching the economy of Texas. Agriculture and ranching gave way to a service-
oriented society after the economic boom years of World War II. Segregation would end
in the 1960s due to federal legislation. Politically, Texas changed from virtually a one-
party Democratic state achieved following disenfranchisement policies, to a highly
contested political scene, until the early 1970s when it shifted to becoming solidly
Republican. The population of Texas continued to grow rapidly throughout the 20th
century, becoming the second-largest state in population in 1994. Also during the 20th
century, the state continued to become economically highly diversified, with a growing
economic base in new technologies in the 21st century.

Contents

 1Ancient history
 2Early Spanish exploration
 3French colonization of Texas (1684–1689)
 4Spanish Texas (1690–1821)
o 4.1Establishment of Spanish colony
o 4.2Difficulties with the Native Americans
o 4.3Encroachment
o 4.4Spanish legacy
 5Comancheria
 6Mexican Texas (1821–1836)
o 6.1Texas Revolution
 7Republic of Texas (1836–1845)
 8Statehood, war, and expansion (1845–1860)
o 8.1Migration
 8.1.1German immigration
 8.1.2Czech immigration
 9Civil War and Reconstruction (1860–1876)
o 9.1Unionism
o 9.2Historiography
o 9.3Reconstruction
o 9.4Democrats regain control after Reconstruction
 10Late 19th century (1876–1899)
o 10.1Land use politics
 11Texas in prosperity, depression, and WWII (1900–1945)
o 11.1Disenfranchisement
o 11.2Dallas growth
o 11.3Oil
o 11.4Great Depression
o 11.5World War II
 12Texas modernizes (1945–present)
o 12.11950s Texas drought
o 12.2JFK assassination
o 12.3Higher education
o 12.4Economic and demographic change
o 12.5Shift to the Republican Party
 13See also
 14Footnotes
 15Bibliography
 16Further reading
o 16.1Surveys
o 16.2Geography and environment
o 16.3Ethnicity and minorities
o 16.4Historiography
o 16.5Business, labor and economics
o 16.6Gender and social history
o 16.7Pre-1865
o 16.8Reconstruction
o 16.91876–1920
o 16.101920–present
 17External links
Ancient history[edit]
Further information: Ancient Mexico

Texas lies at the juncture of two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North
America, the Southwestern and the Plains areas. The area now covered by Texas was
occupied by three major cultures, which had reached their developmental peak before
the arrival of European explorers and are known from archaeology. These are:[7]

 the Pueblo from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas;

 the Mound Builders of the Mississippian culture which spread throughout the Mississippi
Valley and its tributaries; the Caddo nation are considered among its descendants;
 the civilizations of Mesoamerica, centered south of Texas. The influence of Teotihuacan, in
Mexico, peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries.
The Paleo-Indians who lived in Texas between 9200 – 6000 BC may have links
to Clovis and Folsom cultures; these nomadic people hunted mammoths and bison
latifrons[8] using atlatls. They extracted Alibates flint from quarries in
the panhandle region.
Beginning during the 4th millennium BC, the population of Texas increased despite
a changing climate and the extinction of giant mammals. Many pictograms from this era,
drawn on the walls of caves or on rocks, are visible in the state, including at Hueco
Tanks[9] and Seminole Canyon.
Native Americans in East Texas began to settle in villages shortly after 500 BC, farming
and building the first burial mounds. They were influenced by the Mississippian culture,
which had major sites throughout the Mississippi basin. [8] In the Trans-Pecos area,
populations were influenced by Mogollon culture.
From the 8th century, the bow and arrow appeared in the region, [8] manufacture of
pottery developed, and Native Americans increasingly depended on bison for
survival. Obsidian objects found in various Texan sites attest of trade with cultures in
present-day Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, as the material is not found locally.
Distribution of the main Native-American groups in Texas in the early 1500s

As of the colonial period, Texas was largely divided between 6 culture groups. The
Caddoan peoples occupied the area surrounding the entire length of the Red River, and
at the time of initial contact with Europeans they formed four collective confederacies
known as the Natchitoches, the Hasinai, the Wichita, and the Kadohadocho (Caddo).
Along the Gulf Coast region were the Atakapa tribes. [10] Southward from the Atakapa,
along the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande river, at least one Coahuiltecan tribe (a culture
group primarily from Northeast Mexico) was located. The Puebloan peoples, [11] situated
largely between the Rio Grande & Peco rivers were part of an extensive civilization of
tribes that lived in what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado & Utah.
While the northernmost Puebloan groups faced a cultural collapse due to a drought,
many of the southern tribes survive to the present. North of the Pueblos were the
Apachean tribes who although commonly referred to as a single nation, were actually a
culture group.[12] Finally, north of the Apacheans, in the northern current-day Texas
Panhandle region, were the Comanches.[13]
Native Americans determined the fate of European explorers and settlers depending on
whether a tribe was kind or warlike.[14] Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow
indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunting methods for the wild game. Warlike tribes
made life difficult and dangerous for explorers and settlers through their attacks and
resistance to European conquest.[15] Many Native Americans died of new infectious
diseases, which caused high fatalities and disrupted their cultures in the early years of
colonization.
Three federally recognized Native American tribes reside in present-day Texas:
the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and
the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas.[citation needed] A remnant of the Choctaw tribe in East
Texas still lives in the Mount Tabor Indian Community near Overton, Texas.[citation needed]

Early Spanish exploration[edit]

The first European to see Texas was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, who led an expedition
for the governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, in 1520. While searching for a
passage between the Gulf of Mexico and Asia,[16] Álvarez de Pineda created the first
map of the northern Gulf Coast.[17] This map is the earliest recorded document of Texas
history.[17]
Between 1528 and 1535, four survivors of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar
Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico, spent six and a half years in Texas as slaves
and traders among various native groups. Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to
explore the interior of Texas.

French colonization of Texas (1684–1689)[edit]

The French flag of the Bourbons

Main article: French colonization of Texas

Although Álvarez de Pineda had claimed the area that is now Texas for Spain, the area
was essentially ignored for over 160 years. Its initial settlement by Europeans occurred
by accident. In April 1682, French nobleman René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La
Salle had claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for France.[18] The following year, he
convinced King Louis XIV to establish a colony near the Mississippi, essentially
splitting Spanish Florida from New Spain.[19][20]
La Salle's colonization expedition left France on July 24, 1684, and soon lost one of its
supply ships to Spanish privateers.[21] A combination of inaccurate maps, La Salle's
previous miscalculation of the latitude of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and
overcorrecting for the Gulf currents led the ships to be unable to find the Mississippi.
[22]
 Instead, they landed at Matagorda Bay in early 1685, 400 miles (644 km) west of the
Mississippi.[22] In February, the colonists constructed Fort Saint Louis. [20]

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle founded the French colony in Texas.

After the fort was constructed, one of the ships returned to France, and the other two
were soon destroyed in storms, stranding the settlers. La Salle and his men searched
overland for the Mississippi River, traveling as far west as the Rio Grande[20] and as far
east as the Trinity River.[23] Disease and hardship laid waste to the colony, and by early
January 1687, fewer than 45 people remained. That month, a third expedition launched
a final attempt to find the Mississippi. The expedition experienced much infighting, and
La Salle was ambushed and killed somewhere in East Texas.[24]
The Spanish learned of the French colony in late 1685. Feeling that the French colony
was a threat to Spanish mines and shipping routes, King Carlos II's Council of war
recommended the removal of "this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of
America. The greater the delay the greater the difficulty of attainment." [20] Having no idea
where to find La Salle, the Spanish launched ten expeditions—both land and sea—over
the next three years. The last expedition discovered a French deserter living in
Southern Texas with the Coahuiltecans.[25]
The Frenchman guided the Spanish to the French fort in late April 1689. [26] The fort and
the five crude houses surrounding it were in ruins. [27] Several months before,
the Karankawa had become angry that the French had taken their canoes without
payment and had attacked the settlement[26] sparing only four children.[24]

Spanish Texas (1690–1821)[edit]

Main articles: New Spain, Spanish Texas, and Provincias Internas

The Spanish flag of Burgundy.

Establishment of Spanish colony[edit]

News of the destruction of the French fort "created instant optimism and quickened
religious fervor" in Mexico City.[28] Spain had learned a great deal about the geography of
Texas during the many expeditions in search of Fort Saint Louis. [25] In March
1690, Alonso De León led an expedition to establish a mission in East Texas.[29] Mission
San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in
late May, and its first mass was celebrated on June 1.[29][30]
On January 23, 1691, Spain appointed the first governor of Texas, General Domingo
Terán de los Ríos.[31] On his visit to Mission San Francisco in August, he discovered that
the priests had established a second mission nearby, but were having little luck
converting the natives to Christianity. The Indians regularly stole the mission cattle and
horses and showed little respect to the priests. [32] When Terán left Texas later that year,
most of the missionaries chose to return with him, leaving only three religious people
and nine soldiers at the missions.[33] The group also left behind a smallpox epidemic.
[30]
 The angry Caddo threatened the remaining Spaniards, who soon abandoned the
fledgling missions and returned to Coahuila. For the next 20 years, Spain again ignored
Texas.[34]
After a failed attempt to convince Spanish authorities to reestablish missions in Texas,
in 1711 Franciscan missionary Francisco Hidalgo approached the French governor
of Louisiana for help.[35] The French governor sent representatives to meet with Hidalgo.
This concerned Spanish authorities, who ordered the reoccupation of Texas as a buffer
between New Spain and French settlements in Louisiana. [36] In 1716, four missions and
a presidio were established in East Texas. Accompanying the soldiers were the first
recorded female settlers in Spanish Texas.[37]

Texas in 1718, Guillaume de L'Isle map, approximate state area highlighted, northern boundary was indefinite.

The new missions were over 400 miles (644 km) from the nearest Spanish settlement,
San Juan Bautista.[38] Martín de Alarcón, who had been appointed governor of Texas in
late 1716, wished to establish a way station between the settlements along the Rio
Grande and the new missions in East Texas. [39] Alarcón led a group of 72 people,
including 10 families, into Texas in April 1718, where they settled along the San Antonio
River. Within the next week, the settlers built mission San Antonio de Valero and a
presidio, and chartered the municipality of San Antonio de Béxar, now San Antonio,
Texas.[40]
The following year, the War of the Quadruple Alliance pitted Spain against France,
which immediately moved to take over Spanish interests in North America. [41] In June
1719, seven Frenchmen from Natchitoches took control of the mission San Miguel de
los Adaes from its sole defender, who did not know that the countries were at war. The
French soldiers explained that 100 additional soldiers were coming, and the Spanish
colonists, missionaries, and remaining soldiers fled to San Antonio. [42]
The new governor of Coahuila and Texas, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, drove
the French from Los Adaes without firing a shot. He then ordered the building of a new
Spanish fort Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes, located near present-
day Robeline, Louisiana, only 12 mi (19 km) from Natchitoches. The new fort became
the first capital of Texas, and was guarded by six cannons and 100 soldiers.[43] The six
East Texas missions were reopened,[44] and an additional mission and presidio were
established at Matagorda Bay on the former site of Fort Saint Louis. [45][46]
Difficulties with the Native Americans[edit]
In the late 1720s, the viceroy of New Spain closed the presidio in East Texas and
reduced the size of the garrisons at the remaining presidios, [47] leaving only 144 soldiers
in the entire province. With no soldiers to protect them, the East Texas missions
relocated to San Antonio.[48]
Spanish missions within the boundaries of what is now the state of Texas.

Although the missionaries had been unable to convert the Hasinai tribe of East Texas,
they did become friendly with the natives. The Hasinai were bitter enemies of the Lipan
Apache, who transferred their enmity to Spain and began raiding San Antonio and other
Spanish areas.[49][50] A temporary peace was finally negotiated with the Apache in 1749,
[51]
 and at the request of the Indians a mission was established along the San Saba
River northwest of San Antonio.[52] The Apaches shunned the mission, but the fact that
Spaniards now appeared to be friends of the Apache angered the Apache enemies,
primarily the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes, who promptly destroyed the
mission.[53]
In 1762, France finally relinquished their claim to Texas by ceding all of Louisiana west
of the Mississippi River to Spain as part of the treaty to end the Seven Years' War.
[54]
 Spain saw no need to continue to maintain settlements near French outposts and
ordered the closure of Los Adaes, making San Antonio the new provincial capital. [55] The
residents of Los Adaes were relocated in 1773. After several attempts to settle in other
parts of the province, the residents returned to East Texas without authorization and
founded Nacogdoches.[56]
The Comanche agreed to a peace treaty in 1785. [57] The Comanche were willing to fight
the enemies of their new friends, and soon attacked the Karankawa. Over the next
several years the Comanche killed many of the Karankawa in the area and drove the
others into Mexico.[58]
In January 1790, the Comanche also helped the Spanish fight a large battle against the
Mescalero and Lipan Apaches at Soledad Creek west of San Antonio. The Apaches
were resoundingly defeated and the majority of the raids stopped. [59] By the end of the
18th century only a small number of the remaining hunting and gathering tribes within
Texas had not been Christianized. In 1793, mission San Antonio de Valero was
secularized, and the following year the four remaining missions at San Antonio were
partially secularized.[60]
Encroachment[edit]

The Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1819

During the American Revolution, Texas and the Tejanos helped the Americans in the

fights in British West Florida. Unlike East Florida, Texas supported US independence by
also fighting in New Orleans and other campaigns in the Gulf of Mexico.[61]
In 1799, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in exchange for the promise of a throne
in central Italy. Although the agreement was signed on October 1, 1800, it did not go
into effect until 1802. The following year, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States.
The original agreement between Spain and France had not explicitly specified the
borders of Louisiana, and the descriptions in the documents were ambiguous and
contradictory.[62] The United States insisted that its purchase also included most of West
Florida and all of Texas.[62]