Colonization & Early Texas
How did the State Colonization Law of 1825 incentivise American settlers to Coahuila y Tejas.
Large land grants (up to a square league/labor) and temporary tax exemptions.
What was the main purpose of Spanish missions in Texas?
To convert American Indians to Christianity and claim territory.
Which region receives more precipitation: East Texas or West Texas?
East Texas receives more precipitation than West Texas.
Who led the Old Three Hundred and founded San Felipe on the Brazos?
Stephen F. Austin.
Define "Cibola".
Seven cities of gold
Why did many Americans move to Mexican Texas in the 1820s?
To find cheap/available farmland.
Name TWO negative effects of the Spanish mission system on American Indian groups
American Indians lost access to lands they had previously used. Diseases brought by Spanish missionaries killed many American Indians. Natives FORCED.
What physical feature do the Great Plains and Gulf Coastal Plains share?
Both have flat land.
Who delivered the speech known as “El Grito de Dolores”?
Father Miguel Hidalgo.
Define "empresario" in one sentence.
An empresario was a land agent or contractor who received a grant to recruit and settle families in Texas
Name two requirements immigrants had to agree to under Mexican colonization laws.
Become Mexican Citizens, Become Catholic, and be of good moral character.
What is the connection between Missions & Presidios?
Presidios were built to protect the missions and missions were built to convert American Indians to Christianity
Give one concrete example of how geography influenced where people settled in early Texas
Settlers preferred areas near rivers and fertile coastal plains for farming because of water for crops and transportation.
What was Cibola and why did it matter to Spanish explorers?
Cibola was a legendary set of seven cities of gold; the legend motivated explorers to search for riches and explore more of the region.
What is a "presidio"? Give one purpose.
A presidio is a military fort built to protect missions and settlers; its purpose was defense/security.
How did Mexican officials try to maintain Mexican culture when issuing land grants to Anglo empresarios?
They required settlers to practice the Catholic religion and to swear allegiance (loyalty) to Mexico.
What role did presidios serve in relation to missions and settlers?
Presidios were military forts that protected missions and settlers from attack and provided security for Spanish colonization.
Why might early farmers prefer East Texas to West Texas?
East Texas receives much higher rainfall providing more reliable water for crops, making it better for farming.
Pick TWO explorers from Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and Sieur de La Salle — name each and give one impact they had on Texas.
Pineda: mapped the Texas coastline, providing useful geographic information; Cabeza de Vaca: survived a shipwreck, lived among Native peoples, and wrote accounts that informed later exploration; La Salle: attempted to establish a French colony on the Texas coast, which caused Spain to strengthen its claims and settlements.
Define "colonization" and give one short example related to Texas.
Colonization is the process of settling people in a new area to claim and control it; example: Mexico encouraging settlers in Texas through land grants.
Explain how an empresario land grant worked: what did the empresario receive and what were they expected to do in return?
An empresario received a land grant from the government and was expected to recruit and settle a required number of families within a set time.
Explain why disease contributed to the abandonment of some Spanish missions.
European diseases were introduced by missionaries and Europeans; Native populations lacked immunity, leading to high mortality that undermined mission communities and forced some missions to be abandoned.
Explain how differences in precipitation and land type would affect whether an area is better suited for farming or ranching.
Farming requires reliable precipitation/river access and fertile soil (favoring East Texas/Gulf Coastal Plains), while ranching can tolerate drier conditions and open grasslands (favoring West Texas/Great Plains).
Why was the spread of slavery into Texas a concern for Mexico prior to Texas’s independence? Provide the legal/political reason.
Slavery was legally banned in Mexico, so the adoption and spread of slavery in Texas conflicted with Mexican law and threatened Mexican authority and policies.
Define "naturalized" as used in the colonization context and give one condition settlers met to become naturalized Mexicans.
Naturalized means being granted legal citizenship rights after meeting conditions; one condition was taking an oath to obey the federal and state constitutions and to practice the required religion (Catholicism).