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Jan 1, 1400
Age of Exploration begins
Europeans explored because they were desperate to get spices from Asia, to find a sea route to Asia, and to find gold. Also, the 3 G's are God, Gold, and Glory. Christopher Columbus was looking for a shortcut to the Indies (Far East), when he found America. Most of these explorers originated from Spain. A conquistador is a conqueror, especially a Spanish conqueror from the 16th centuries. Hernandez Cortez had tore down Tenochtitlan and founded New Spain. -
Jan 1, 1519
Pineda maps Texas coast
In 1517, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda had many ways to map the western coastline, which
led from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Panuco river. Ponce de Leon had already mapped parts of Florida (it was an island), Alaminos had already founded all the western areas, which left Pineda to only one choice. He started searching for the land between the Panuco river and Florida. After reaching the Southern tip of Florida, Pineda sailed west and founded the Gulf Coast on June 2, 1519! -
Jan 1, 1532
Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked
The Karankawa Indians had captured Cabeza de Vaca, as he was barely even living. The Natives and many explorers were killed by illness, attacks, and their own expedition. While Cabeza had been share led on an island, he was desperately dying in lack of water. When Cabeza de Vaca arrived in Mexico, people thought of him as a great explorer. People liked him so much that his story became famous throughout the colony and in Europe! -
Apr 22, 1540
Coronado sets out for Cibola
A Cibola is a Spanish transliteration of a native name for a pueblo. Coronado thought that Cibola was in Texas, because Cabeza de Vaca's stories persuaded him into that false belief. Sadly, they did not find Cibola, because the Seven Cities of Cibola don't even exist. Glady, there is one important landmark that the discovered, it was the Colorado river and the Grand Canyon. -
Phillip Nolan Expedition
A filibuster is somebody who wages an unofficial war on a country. Peter E. Bean and James Long were two other known filibuster's, besides Phillip Nolan. Jean Lafitte was a very well known and famous Fench Pirate. -
La Salle lands in Texas
France had challenged Spain for Texas, he wanted Spain to win independence from Texas. La Salle was known for discovering the Mississippi River (a river delta). -
Fort St. Louis founded
Fort St. Louis is in present-day Texas, near Matagorda Bay. It was founded by Robert Cavelier de La Salle. Fort St. Louis was then failed to be founded, because he was using inaccurate maps and there were navigational errors which led him to the coast of Texas instead of the Mississippi river. On a second try to survive, La Salle and 17 other people set out to find the Mississippi, but a month later, a group of 5 soldiers gathered around La Salle and killed him. -
Mission San Francisco founded
The purpose of a mission was to spread Christianity to the Native Americans. Conquistadors were the ones to lead missions. Spain is responsible for building missions at Mission San Fransisco. Missions were affiliated (united) with Christianity. Most of the missions were not successful in their work. These missions failed, because of attacks, starvation, and diseases. Buildings known as presidios were used to protect missions. -
Marques de Rubi Inspects Texas
Marques de Rubi's mission was to inspect the northern frontier of Texas. King Carlos ||| was the one to send Marques de Rubi on his mission to inspect Texas. The two recommendations that Marques de Rubi made after his journey were: San Antonio & Santa Fe should be maintained, and East Texas should be completely abandoned. -
The Louisiana Purchase
For U.S.-Spanish relations, the Loisiana Purchase meant bad news for Spain, it meant that United States had a bigger territory. Even after the Louisiana Purchases occurred, three countries still claimed land in North America. They were the U.S., Great Britain, and Spain. -
Moses Austin Asks Permission for Colony
The Spanish granted Austin permission to establish a colony, because of Austin's friend, Bastrop, who edited the letter granting permission for a new colony, for him. So, Bastrop had persuaded the Spanish to let him in. Because of Bastrip's convincing, the Spanish allowed Ausrin to establish a colony. Before he could establish his colony, Moses Austin got mugged and died from pneumonia. -
Stephen F. Austin Establishes His Colony
An empresario was someone who got permission to settle on Mexican land. Austin established his colony in Rich River Bottom, between the Brazos River and the Colorado river. Some of the requirements that Mexico made Austin's colony meet were: to settle 300 families, to make settlers become loyal to the government/religion of Spain, etc. The Old Three Hundred were the 297 grantees (people to whom the land was granted to). It was made up of families who purchased 307 parcels of land from SFA... -
Stephen F. Austin Establishes His Colony Continued...
...and established a colony that was somewhere between the Gulf of Mexico and Washington County. There were some challenges in establishing this colony, which were: having native "friends" who had to be befriended by SFA, having interference with harsh climate, having challenges with Mexico about them not wanting to give empresario rights to Austin, etc. There were two other empresarios along with SFA, such as Haden Edwards and James Power. -
Mexico gains independence
Mexico had gained their independence from Spain. The Federalist's had established the '1824 Constitution of Mexico', for Mexico. Under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico', Texas was joined with Coahuila, to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas. -
Fredonian Rebellion
The goal of the Fredonian Rebellion was to make Texas independent from Mexico. The Edwards brothers were upset with the Mexican government. 100 Mexican soldiers and 250 militiamen marched from Austin to Nacogdoches to restore balance and order. However, the President Guadalupe, in order to stop their efforts, brought his military to the scene. As a result, several of the hostile tribes stopped their raids, and agreed to negotiate a peace treaty, which ended the rebellion. -
Mier y Teran Report
The goal of the Mier y Teran expedition was to inspect the conditions and influence in Texas. Mier y Teran was sent, because he was educated and well-experienced. So, the government trusted him in doing so. Mier y Teran recommended to make trade between Mexico and Texas a encouraging "event", he suggested for there to be more soldiers to better control this harsh situation, more Europeans should settle in Texas, etc. -
Law of April 6, 1830 passes
The law stated that U.S. Immigration should be banned so that Texans can't enter without Mexican permission. It stated that empresario contracts should be suspended, then renewed. The law stated that there should be more Texan immigrants than Mexican immigrants. The law stated that slaves should be banned from Texas. It also stated that there should be more forts built to strengthen the control. Lastly, the law states that they should tax all U.S. Imports. -
Convention of 1833
There were many goals of the Convention, but they're main goal was to discuss the requests of citizens that had been disapproved by the Mexican government. The citizens wanted the Convention to get their opinion on this. Stephen F. Austin was the one to make the trip to Mexico City, to present the resolutions. -
Austin Arrested
After Austin had presented the colonists' petitions to Santa Anna, he was leaving to go back to Texas. But on his way back, he got arrested for trying to start rebellion with the colonists. Because of his imprisonment, SFA changed his mind about supporting Mexico and making the deal with Santa Anna. -
San Antonio de Bexar Siege
A siege is a military operation in which forces surround a town or building, with a goal of making those inside surrender to you. The Mexican Government (Martin Perfecto de Cos) controlled San Antonio before the siege, and Texas colonists controlled San Antonio after the siege. -
Battle of Gonzales
The Battle of Gonzales was fought, because the Mexican government had given the colonists a cannon to repel native attacks. But, after a while, the Mexican government wanted it back sensing the instability in Texas. Since the colonists refused to hand it back, they started the Battle of Gonzales, with Texas winning the battle. The famous slogan "Come and Take it" was then originated from that battle. -
Convention of 1836
The 'Texas Declaration of Independence' and the 'Constitution of the Republic of Texas' were created at the Convention of 1836. -
Goliad Massacre
Fannin and his men lost the Battle of the Goliad and were taken prisoner. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had ordered the massacre of Fannin's men. About 240 Texans died during the massacre. -
The Alamo Falls
The three notable Alamo defenders were David Crokett, William B. Travis, and James Bowie. There were approximately 189 Alamo defenders, and around 2000 Mexican troops present at the Fall of the Alamo. Sam Houston didn't send reinforcements to the Alamo, because he was waiting for the perfect place and the perfect moment to strike the Mexican army. Sadly, the Mexican Government won the Battle of the Alamo. -
The Runaway Scrape
Everybody was moving Far East to cross the Sabine River into Louisiana. The goal and purpose of the Runaway Scrape was to escape from Texas into safety before the Mexican army could get to them and execute everyone. Everybody was running away, because Santa Anna had already shot Fannin's prisoners and announced that he would kill anyone who dared to oppose the Mexican government. People thought that Sam Houston was a coward for running away from Santa Anna instead of helping his army. -
Battle of San Jacinto
The two war cries that the Texans shouted during the battle were : "Remember the Alamo!" And "Remember Goliad!" The number of casualties for the Mexican army was: 700 killed, 208 wounded, and 730 prisoned. The number of casualties for the Texas army was: 9 killed, and 30 wounded. During the battle, Santa Anna was destroying his armor and disguising himself as a common soldier to escape severe punishment, but got caught. This time, the Texans were victorious in winning this battle!
