Enjoying the JourneyThe Beginning of San Antonio
April 21st 2011 22:48
Link: takeintexas.com
The missions served two purposes the first was to convert the Indians to Catholicism and the second was to encourage the expansion of Spain in the region. There were several native American tribes in the region including the Papaya and the Coahuiltecan which were nomadic and survived by living off native plants of the area. The other two were the Apache and the Comanche. The Comanche were the biggest threat to the survival of the Apache who were encroaching their territory from the North. Thus, the missions became a source of food, protection and survival of the three tribes, the Papaya, the Coahuiltecan and the Apache. The Papaya and the Coahuiltecan worked in the mission fields growing crops and building the missions and the Apache became the first native ‘cowboy’ tending to the cattle for the missions. Thus the missions of Texan had essentially free labor and also a wide variety of natives from which to spread Catholicism across the region.
The Franciscans asked Spain to send settlers to the region to populate the region and also to set up a good example for the natives to copy and learn civilized patterns and communities. These first years of the Texas region was a mixed up community with many beliefs, many cultures and many customs. There were natives, settlers from Spain and some Mexicans all coming together to try and survive each in their own way. It was a difficult time for Texas and these cultures but somehow San Antonio survived as a lonely rugged outpost and eventually grew into a prosperous thriving settlement.
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