Texas Eras & Dates (TEKS 7.1A, 7.1B)
This earliest era in Texas history is characterized by the time when Paleo Indians first arrived and adapted to their environments.
What is the Natural Texas and its People era?
This Plains tribe resource was the central focus for the nomadic Comanche, Apache, and Kiowa way of life.
What is the buffalo?
The three motivations for Spanish exploration, often summarized as "The Three G's."
What are God, Gold, and Glory?
The primary goal of the Spanish mission system, related to religion and culture.
What is to convert Native Americans to Catholicism and assimilate them?
This natural region is characterized by high, flat plateaus, deep canyons, and includes cities like Amarillo and Lubbock.
What is the Great Plains?
This method is used by historians to organize large amounts of information by shared, defining characteristics.
What is dividing the past into eras?
This culture, including the Jumano and Tiguas, adapted to their dry environment by using adobe brick to build permanent homes.
What is the Puebloan culture?
The Spanish explorer whose accounts of his journey through Texas inspired the later search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.
Who is Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca?
These military forts were essential to the colonial system because they protected the nearby missions and settlements.
What are Presidios?
This region is best described as having low elevation, abundant water resources, and many major urban centers like Houston.
What is the Coastal Plains?
The year 1519, when Alonso Álvarez de Pineda completed this important geographical task.
What is mapping the Texas coastline?
This group, part of the Southeastern culture, were sedentary farmers and traders who lived in large villages in East Texas.
Who are the Caddo?
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led his expedition into Texas specifically to find these rumored, wealthy places.
What are the seven cities of gold (Cibola)?
The reason Spain continued to establish settlements in Texas even after failing to find gold.
What is to maintain a territorial claim against French encroachment?
This characteristic is common to most major Texas cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.
What is being founded near a significant water source (river or coastline)?
This era is defined by the arrival of European explorers and the resulting interaction with Native American groups.
What is the Age of Contact?
Coastal tribes like the Karankawa differed from Plains tribes because they primarily relied on this method for obtaining food.
What is fishing and shell collecting?
The French explorer who established Fort St. Louis on the Texas coast, which greatly worried Spain.
Who is La Salle (or René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle)?
This critical natural resource, often a river, determined the location of most Spanish missions and settlements.
What is fresh water (a reliable water source)?
This region is defined by high peaks (like Guadalupe Peak), a dry climate, and desert environment.
What is the Mountains and Basins region?
The date 1718, which marks the founding of this crucial Spanish mission and presidio in South Texas.
What is San Antonio (Mission San Antonio de Valero)?
The main activity that Plains tribes relied on (hunting) differed from the Southeastern and Puebloan tribes, who relied on this.
What is cultivation of crops (agriculture)?
This, tragically, was the most significant negative effect of European exploration on Native American cultures.
What is the spread of diseases (like smallpox)?
The Spanish colonial system was forced to actively do this after the French established a claim, which created an urgent issue for Spain.
What is occupy and defend its territorial claims in Texas?
This region stretches from the Red River south into Central Texas and is characterized by rolling prairies and a mild climate.
What is the North Central Plains?