Texas History Unit 2 Study Guide Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards reviewing key explorers, locations, dates, and terms from Unit 2: Early Texas Exploration and Spanish Colonial Era.

Age of Contact in Texas

A period in Texas history that began with the journey through Texas by Spanish Conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.

Siege of Constantinople (1492)

The Ottoman Turk (Islamic) siege and takeover of Constantinople in 1492 that forced Europe to search for a different route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer who found the New World in 1492.

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

A Spanish explorer who brought 1300 men to the New World in search of Cibola and reached a Zuni settlement of mud and stone.

Conquistador

A Spanish soldier-explorer.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conqueror who conquered the Aztec empire and created Mexico City, the capital of New Spain.

Antonio de Olivares

The individual who started the first mission and presidio at San Antonio in 1718.

Mission

A Spanish religious settlement placed in the New World, primarily focused on converting local native groups to Catholicism.

Presidio

A Spanish fort or military outpost placed in the New World to defend settlements from native attacks.

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda

The first European to map the Texas coastline in 1519.

Robert La Salle

A French explorer, distinct from Spanish explorers, who was killed in a mutiny by his own men in 1689.

Juan De Leon

A Spanish explorer who looked for the fountain of youth and founded St. Augustine, the first Spanish settlement in the New World.

Motto of the Spanish Army

“For God, gold, and glory”

La Relación

A book published by Cabeza de Vaca after his return to Spain that made him a celebrity and detailed rumors of Cibola.

Cibola

The legendary city of gold written about by Cabeza de Vaca in his book La Relación.

San Francisco de los Tejas

The first Spanish mission established in East Texas.

Mission San Antonio de Valero

A Spanish mission whose chapel is now known as the Alamo.

El Camino Real

A road that stretched from West Louisiana to Southwest Texas and into Mexico.

Father Damian Massanet

A religious figure who convinced Spain to colonize East Texas in an attempt to convert the Caddo to Catholicism.

Juan de Onate

A Spanish explorer exiled to New Mexico for his mistreatment of the natives before returning to Spain.

Antonio Margil de Jesus

The Spanish explorer who founded the most successful Spanish mission in Texas, San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo.

La Bahia

A mission founded near Goliad that would later become the site of the Goliad massacre.

Karankawa

The Native group that rescued Cabeza de Vaca and taught him natural medicine, and later destroyed Fort St. Louis shortly after La Salle's death.

Spanish Colonial Era

An era in which Spain built missions, presidios, and towns to protect its claim to its North American colonies.

Tejano Culture

A blend of Texas and Spanish culture.

Fort St. Louis

A French settlement established by La Salle that was destroyed by the Karankawa Indians shortly after his death.