History

Pre-European era

Further information: Pre-Columbian Mexico

Texas lies between two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North America: the Southwestern and the Plains areas. Archaeologists have found that three major indigenous cultures lived in this territory, and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. These were:^[41]

• the Pueblo from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas;
• the Mississippian culture, also known as Mound Builders, which extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas; and
• the civilizations of Mesoamerica, centered south of Texas. Influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries.

No culture was dominant in the present-day Texas region, and many peoples inhabited the area.^[41] Native American tribes that lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama, Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita.^[42][43] The name Texas derives from táyshaʔ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies".^{[2][14][44][45][46]}
Whether a Native American tribe was friendly or warlike was critical to the fates of European explorers and settlers in that land.^[47] Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunt wild game. Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for Europeans through their attacks and resistance to the newcomers.^[48]

Colonization

Flag of the six nations that have had sovereignty over some or all of the current territory of Texas

Main articles: French colonization of Texas, Spanish Texas, and Mexican Texas

Texas in 1718, Guillaume de L'Isle map, approximate state area highlighted, northern areas indefinite.

Nicolas de La Fora's 1771 map of the northern frontier of New Spain clearly shows the Provincia de los Tejas^[49]

Stephen F. Austin was the first American empresario given permission to operate a colony within Mexican Texas.

The first historical document related to Texas was a map of the Gulf Coast, created in 1519 by Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda.^[50][51] Nine years later, shipwrecked Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his cohort became the first Europeans in what is now Texas.^[52][53] Cabeza de Vaca reported that in 1528, when the Spanish landed in the area, "half the natives died from a disease of the bowels and blamed us."^[54] Cabeza de Vaca also made observations about the way of life of the Ignaces Natives of Texas: "They went about with a firebrand, setting fire to the plains and timber so as to drive off the mosquitos, and also to get lizards and similar things which they eat, to come out of the soil. In the same manner they kill deer, encircling them with fires, and they do it also to deprive the animals of pasture, compelling them to go for food where the Indians want."^[55]
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado describes his 1541 encounter with "Two kinds of people travel around these plains with the cows; one is called Querechos and the others Teyas; they are very well built, and painted, and are enemies of each other. They have no other settlement or location than comes from traveling around with the cows. They kill all of these they wish, and tan the hides, with which they clothe themselves and make their tents, and they eat the flesh, sometimes even raw, and they also even drink the blood when thirsty. The tents they make are like field tents, and they set them up over some poles they have made for this purpose, which come together and are tied at the top, and when they go from one place to another they carry them on some dogs they have, of which they have many, and they load them with the tents and poles and other things, for the country is so level, as I said, that they can make use of these, because they carry the poles dragging along on the ground. The sun is what they worship most."^[56]
European powers ignored the area until accidentally settling there in 1685. Miscalculations by René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle resulted in his establishing the colony of Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along the Mississippi River.^[57] The colony lasted only four years before succumbing to harsh conditions and hostile natives.^[58]
In 1690 Spanish authorities, concerned that France posed competitive threat, constructed several missions in East Texas.^[59] After Native American resistance, the Spanish missionaries returned to Mexico.^[60] When France began settling Louisiana, mostly in the southern part of the state, in 1716 Spanish authorities responded by founding a new series of missions in East Texas.^[61][62] Two years later, they created San Antonio as the first Spanish civilian settlement in the area.^[63]
Hostile native tribes and distance from nearby Spanish colonies discouraged settlers from moving to the area. It was one of New Spain's least populated provinces.^[64] In 1749, the Spanish peace treaty with the Lipan Apache^[65] angered many tribes, including the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai.^[66] The Comanche signed a treaty with Spain in 1785^[67] and later helped to defeat the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes.^[68][69] With more numerous missions being established, priests led a peaceful conversion of most tribes. By the end of the 18th century only a few nomadic tribes had not converted to Christianity.^[70]
When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, American authorities insisted that the agreement also included Texas. The boundary between New Spain and the United States was finally set at the Sabine River in 1819, at what is now the border between Texas and Louisiana.^[71] Eager for new land, many United States settlers refused to recognize the agreement. Several filibusters raised armies to invade the area west of the Sabine River.^[72] In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence included the Texas territory, which became part of Mexico.^[73] Due to its low population, Mexico made the area part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas.^[74]

Mexico in 1824. Coahuila y Tejas is the northeastern-most state.

Hoping that more settlers would reduce the near-constant Comanche raids, Mexican Texas liberalized its immigration policies to permit immigrants from outside Mexico and Spain.^[75] Under the Mexican immigration system, large swathes of land were allotted to empresarios, who recruited settlers from the United States, Europe, and the Mexican interior. The first grant, to Moses Austin, was passed to his son Stephen F. Austin after his death.
Austin's settlers, the Old Three Hundred, made places along the Brazos River in 1822.^[76] Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority of whom were from the United States.^[76][77] The population of Texas grew rapidly. In 1825, Texas had about 3,500 people, with most of Mexican descent.^[78] By 1834, the population had grown to about 37,800 people, with only 7,800 of Mexican descent.^[79]
Many immigrants openly flouted Mexican law, especially the prohibition against slavery. Combined with United States' attempts to purchase Texas, Mexican authorities decided in 1830 to prohibit continued immigration from the United States.^[80] New laws also called for the enforcement of customs duties angering both native Mexican citizens (Tejanos) and recent immigrants.^[81]
The Anahuac Disturbances in 1832 were the first open revolt against Mexican rule and they coincided with a revolt in Mexico against the nation's president.^[82] Texians sided with the federalists against the current government and drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas.^[83] They took advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom. Texians met at the Convention of 1832 to discuss requesting independent statehood, among other issues.^[84] The following year, Texians reiterated their demands at the Convention of 1833.