The City of San Antonio is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in Texas and was, for decades, its largest city. Before Spanish colonization, the site was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. The historic Payaya Indians were likely those who encountered the first Europeans.
The "Villa de Bejar" was founded by Spanish explorers on May 5, 1718, by then Governor Martin Alarcon, at the headwaters of the San Pedro Creek. San Antonio's history is closely tied to Mexico because it was part of the Spanish Empire and the Mexican Republic. The mission San Antonio de Valero was established on the east bank of the creek and a presidio was 3/4 of a league downstream. Development of the Spanish colonial city followed. A trading post was also established near the presidio and the town developed as the capital of Tejas, a province of colonial Spain. It was the northernmost settlement associated with the Hispanic culture of the Valley of Mexico.
After Mexico achieved independence in 1821, Anglo-American settlers entered the region from the United States. In 1836, Anglo-Americans gained control of Texas in the fighting that gained independence for the Republic of Texas. In 1845 Texas was annexed by the United States, and became a state.
Early history After thousands of years of succeeding indigenous cultures, the historic Payaya Indians coalesced as a distinct ethnic group. They lived near the San Antonio River Valley, in the San Pedro Springs area, which they called Yanaguana, meaning “refreshing waters”.
In 1536, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a shipwrecked Spanish explorer who was enslaved by Native Americans for a period, visited the interior of what would later be called Texas. He saw and described the river later to be named the San Antonio. He eventually rejoined Spanish colleagues in Mexico City.
Several expeditions to the region of Texas, an area of great strategic importance to the Spanish crown, were organized from the Convent of Querétaro. With that goal in 1675, an expedition formed by Fray Antonio de Olivares, Fray Francisco Hidalgo, Fray Juan Larios and Fernando Orozco Josué Hernández y hay hete suéter is Natalia Orozco, were sent to explore and recognize the country beyond the borders of the Rio Grande, to test the possibilities of new settlements in the area.
In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Native American settlement (located in the area of present-day La Villita) on June 13. As it was the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy, they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor.
In 1709, the expedition headed by Pedro de Aguirre, together with Fray Antonio de Olivares and Fray Isidro de Espinosa was undertaken which consisted of exploration of the territory where the present city of San Antonio is located and extended to the Colorado River. The same year he traveled to Spain to convince the authorities to establish and maintain new missions on the bank of the San Antonio River at the present-day city of San Antonio.
In 1716, Fray Antonio de Olivares wrote to the Viceroy of New Spain, telling their hopes and plans for the future mission, and urged him to send families of settlers to found a town. In the same letter he stressed that it was necessary for some of these families to be skilled in the useful arts and industries, "to teach the Indians all that should be required to be useful and capable citizens" .
Finally, the perseverance of Fray Antonio was answered and the Viceroyalty gave formal approval for the mission in late 1716, assigning responsibility for its establishment to Martín de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila y Tejas.
Spanish settlement
Fray Antonio de Olivares, who had established the Mission San Francisco Solano, went alone to a mission site that had been suggested by Father Damian Manzanet in 1690. He remained there alone after organizing the new mission, often meeting with the Indians of the area (Payaya Indians), gradually earning their love and respect. This mission was called San Antonio de Valero, a name derived from "San Antonio de Padua" and Viceroy New Spain, Marquess of Valero. It was located near a community of Coahuiltecan and was originally inhabited by indigenous three to five converted from Mission San Francisco Solano.
Fray Antonio de Olivares also built the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, on the west side of the San Antonio River, approximately 1 mile from the mission. It was designed to protect the system of missions and civilian settlements in central Texas and to ensure Spanish claims in the region against possible encroachment from other European powers. The presidio consisted of an adobe building, thatched with grass, with soldiers quartered in brush huts. As settlers concentrated around the presidio complex and mission, began to form the town of Bejar or Bexar, convert it in the cornerstone of Spanish Texas. Being located in the center of several operating systems mission Bejar suffered not the needs and anxieties of other presidios. Despite occasional Indian attacks, the defense of the presidio walls were never completed or was deemed necessary, as the mission was complemented later converted into the main unit of walled defense.
The operating complex was completed with the construction of the first ditch of Texas (Acequia Madre de Valero), 6 miles long, built to irrigate 400 hectares and supply the inhabitants of the new settlements. It was vital to the missions to be able to divert and control water from the San Antonio River, in order to grow crops and to supply water to the people in the area. This particular acequia was the beginning of a much wider acequia system. Acequia Madre de Valero ran from the area currently known as Brackenridge Park and southward to what is now Hemisfair Plaza and South Alamo Street. Part of it that is not viewable by the public runs beneath the Menger Hotel. The acequia was restored in 1968 and that year was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Fray Antonio de Olivares was aided by local Payaya and Pastia Indians, in building the bridge that connected the Misión de San Antonio de Valero and Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, and the Acequia Madre de Valero.
On May 1, 1718, Martin de Alarcon, in his capacity as "General of the Provinces of the Kingdom of the New Philippines" gave possession to Fray Antonio de Olivares of the Misión de San Antonio de Valero, later known as "The Alamo".
On May 5, was founded the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, on the west side of the San Antonio River, the source of the present city of San Antonio Texas. The event was chaired by Martin de Alarcón, settling around 30 families in the surrounding area.
On July 8, 1718, held at the new Mission San Antonio de Valero the first baptism, as reflected in the baptismal register of the mission.
On February 14, 1719, the Marquess of San Miguel de Aguayo made a report to the king of Spain proposing that 400 families be transported from the Canary Islands, Galicia, or Habana to populate the province of Texas. In June 1730, 25 families come to Cuba, and 10 families were sent to Veracruz. Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group marched overland to the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar, where they arrived on March 9, 1731. The group joined the military community that had existed since 1718, forming the first government of the city and taking as headquarters building Presidio of San Antonio de Béjar.
In 1719, Margil obtained permission from the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo to found a second mission at San Antonio. However, Father Olivares he opposed it. Despite of it, the Zacatecan Franciscans founded Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, next to the San Antonio River, on February 23, 1720.
San Antonio grew to become the largest Spanish settlement in Texas. After the failure of Spanish missions to the north of the city, San Antonio became the farthest northeastern extension of the Hispanic culture of the Valley of Mexico. The city was for most of its history the capital of the Spanish, later Mexican, province of Tejas. From San Antonio the Camino Real, today's Nacogdoches Road, ran to the American border at the small frontier town of Nacogdoches.
Mexican War of Independence and Mexican period
While the Mexican War of Independence broke out in 1810, the conflict did not militarily reach San Antonio until January 11, 1811, when retired militia captain Juan Bautista de las Casas seized control of Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, arrested Texas governor Manuel María de Salcedo, and proclaimed himself provisional governor. Las Casas's rule lasted for 39 days until San Antonio subdeacon Juan Manuel Zambrano led a counterinsurgency which restored Spanish control over the city.
The Texan theater of the war re-escalated late the following year, and on April 1, 1813, a filibuster expedition consisting of over 800 Mexican revolutionaries and American volunteers captured the city from Salcedo and declared their independence from Spain. The rebels defended their control of the city at the Battle of Alazán Heights on June 20th, but San Antonio was ultimately recaptured by General José Joaquín de Arredondo, who led Spanish troops to victory at the Battle of Medina. After recapturing proceeded to brutally occupy San Antonio for nearly a year, executing rebels, confiscating property, and imprisoning residents.
After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, the depopulation and economic havoc wrought by Arredondo's punitive campaign led the Mexican government to invite Anglo American via Empresarios such as Stephen F. Austin, to settle in Texas in areas east and northeast of San Antonio.
The Texas Revolution
When Antonio López de Santa Anna, after being elected President of Mexico in 1833, rescinded the Mexican Constitution of 1824, violence ensued in many provinces of Mexico. In Texas the Anglo settlers joined many Hispanic Texans, who called themselves Tejanos, in demanding a return to the Constitution of 1824. In a series of battles the Anglo Texans, who called themselves Texians, supported by a significant number of Tejano allies, initially succeeded in forcing the Mexican military to retreat from Texas.
Under the leadership of Ben Milam, in the Battle of Bexar, December, 1835, Texian forces captured San Antonio from forces commanded by General Martin Perfecto de Cos, Santa Anna's brother-in-law. Forces opposing Santa Anna took control of the entire province of Texas. Today Milam Park and the Cos House in San Antonio commemorate this battle.
Battle of the Alamo
After putting down resistance in other regions of Mexico, in the spring of 1836, Santa Anna led a Mexican army back into Texas and marched on San Antonio. He intended to avenge the defeat of Cos and end the Texan rebellion. Sam Houston, believing that San Antonio could not be defended against a determined effort by the regular Mexican army, called for the Texan forces to abandon the city.
A volunteer force under the joint command of William Barrett Travis, newly arrived in Texas, and James Bowie, and including Davy Crockett and his company of Tennesseans, and Juan Seguin's company of Hispanic Texan volunteers, occupied and fortified the nearby deserted mission, the Alamo. They were determined to hold the Alamo against all opposition.
The defenders of the Alamo included Anglo and Hispanic Texans who fought side by side under a banner - the flag of Mexico with the numerals "1824" superimposed. This was meant to indicate that the defenders were fighting for their rights to democratic government under the Mexican constitution of that year. During their siege, the Texas Congress declared an independent Republic of Texas.