Spanish Colonial Texas History

The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Spanish Colonial Missions in Texas in order to gain a better understanding of Mission San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz. Spanish Colonial missions in Texas have a rich archaeological and ethnohistorical record that provide insight to daily lives of missions as well as the long-term processes of the Spanish government on the North American continent. The Spanish government funded mission projects in order to spread Catholicism as well as adopt the Native Americans into Spanish, tax-paying citizens of the crown. What makes Mission San Lorenzo unique to other missions is that it was not approved by the Spanish government nor was it funded. This unauthorized mission was mostly funded personally by Captain Felipe de Rábago y Terán, as well as receiving …show more content…
Their most obvious function was to save the souls of Indians, but they also assisted civilian settlements and presidios in extending and holding the frontier,” [Chipman 1992: 248]. The push toward permanent settlement in Texas was a driving force for the viceroy to urge missionary friars with the hope of converting Native Americans. However, the viceroy was not only sending friars to settle the area, they were accompanied by soldiers. It was the duty of the soldiers to aid the missionary efforts to enforce, “…allegiance to the political interests of the mother country,” [McCaleb 1961: 30]. The friars and the soldiers worked hand in hand to ensure that loyalties to the Spanish crown were maintained, the territory occupied remained in Spanish ownership, and that the local communities would convert to a Spanish lifestyle that included practicing Catholicism. It was not enough to simply set up missions in claimed territory, the viceroy had to select advantageous locations that would keep the French at bay, as well as have enough local life for the friars to convert and live in the