Spanish Exploration in Texas (CH. 2)

Lessons of the Conquest of Mexico (Believed)

• Indians were rich

• Indians lived in highly concentrated communities

• Differences among native populations could easily be exploited to aid in conquest

• Some Indians had a natural ability to understand Christianity

• On the fringes of the empire, anything goes

• Texas placed within a triangle of successful Indian people: Pueblo, Mississippi Valley, & Aztecs

Panfilo de Narvaez & Cabeza de Vaca (1528-1536) (300 men & Spanish explorers)

1. Left Cuba in April 1528 in search of the Rio Pamico (15 miles river, look for treasure, split troops, finds nothing)

2. November 6, 1528 & San Luis Island (Landed inTexas)

3. Estevanico

4. de Vaca: friend or foe

5. de Vaca’s route & El Paso de Norte

Estevanico

Slave that landed in Texas 1st but they/Spanish would not give him the credit

de Vaca: friend or foe

Estevanico & De Vaca meet up & explore ending up in El Paso, then bring his men to modern-day Mexico city

de Vaca’s route & El Paso de Norte

Da Vaca known as medicine man for using wine for wounds

Estevanico and Father Marcos de Niza (1539)

1. Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza orders the expedition
2. Estevanico killed at Háwikuh.
3. de Niza’s report of Seven Cities of Cíbola to Mendoza
(September 1539)

Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza orders the expedition

Selects priest to go with him instead of soldiers/Da Vaca, because to use less money/expendable & convert people when they meet and take Estevanico with him

Estevanico killed at Háwikuh.

Killed by Indians, was marking path ahead

de Niza’s report of Seven Cities of Cíbola to Mendoza
(September 1539)

Wished he had soldiers because he finds in the distance a city of gold

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1540-1542)

1. Excitement of de Niza’s report
2. Mendoza’s selection of
Coronado

3. The expedition (February 1540)
4. Capture of Cíbola and reconnaissance
5. Coronado enters the Llano Estacado.
6. The search for Quivira
7. Coronado as a failure

The expedition (February 1540)

Finds no gold, only huts, with women and children

Capture of Cíbola and reconnaissance

a. Hopi towns of northeastern Arizona
b. Discovery of the Grand Canyon
c. Exploring the Pecos and meeting “the Turk”

The search for Quivira

Finds more huts, old men, women, children, but men attack him from behind to steal their horses but fail

Coronado as a failure

Kill Turk, tried for neglect of duty, & maltreatment of indigenous people, cleared of most charges but forced to resign as governor of Nueva Galicia in 1544

Hernando de Soto (Luis de Moscoso,1539-1543)

1. De Soto’s race to Cíbola (1539)
2. Tour of the southeast and more disappointment (No wealth, & kept being stolen from)
3. De Soto died in May 1542 (Fever)
4. De Moscoso led expedition into East Texas
5. Encountered the Hasinai Caddo (Stays with them for awhile)
6. Retreat and lack of coordination

Juan de Oñate (1598)

1. Marked the beginning of Spanish push into northern New Spain
2. Expedition conquered modern New Mexico
3. Founded Santa Fe (1609)

Father Juan de Salas (1629 and 1632)

1. Encounter with the Jumanos (1629) (Taught them about Christianity)
2. “The Woman in Blue”
3. Sister María de Jesús de Agreda (“Lady in Blue”)
4. Jumano mission of Isleta (1632)

“The Woman in Blue”

A Spanish nun who is said to have appeared to the Jumano tribe in the 1620s. The Jumano tribe told the Spanish missionaries that she taught them bout Christianity and told them to seek baptism

Juan Dominguez de Mendoza

1. Upper Rio Grande Valley
2. Pueblo Rebellion of 1680
3. Jumano-Apache conflict
4. Mendoza to Ruidosa
5. Founding of San Clemente mission

Pueblo Rebellion of 1680

Successful uprising by the Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers in New Mexico

Caused by: Spanish religious persecution, economic & political exploitation, violence, drought, Spanish destruction of sacred sites, & harsh living conditions

Jumano-Apache conflict

Enemies, Apache controlled the trade, Jumanos attacked by Apache’s, & the conflict between drought & famine

Founding of San Clemente mission

Jumano requested mission wanting Christianity & friendship with the Spanish (1684)

The Ugly Truth About Texas

A. Indians were not rich.
B. Indians did not like being tied down or too settled.
C. Indians were not well inclined toward Spaniards.
D. Most Indians were not at all interested in Christianity.
E. Texas was hell, and only useful as a buffer zone to the
northeast.