Spanish Texas, 1519–1821: Revised Edition

Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage

by Donald E. Chipman, Harriett Denise Joseph

Modern Texas, like Mexico, traces its beginning to sixteenth-century encounters between Europeans and Indians who contested control over a vast land. Unlike Mexico, however, Texas eventually received the stamp of Anglo-American culture, so that Spanish contributions to present-day Texas tend to be obscured or even unknown. The first edition of Spanish Texas, 1519-1821 (1992) sought to emphasize the significance of the Spanish period in Texas history. Beginning with information on the land and its inhabitants before the arrival of Europeans, the original volume covered major people and events from early exploration to the end of the colonial era. This new edition of Spanish Texas has been extensively revised and expanded to include a wealth of discoveries about Texas history since 1990. The opening chapter on Texas Indians reveals their high degree of independence from European influence and extended control over their own lives. Other chapters incorporate new information on La Salle's Garcitas Creek colony and French influences in Texas, the destruction of the San Sabá mission and the Spanish punitive expedition to the Red River in the late 1750s, and eighteenth-century Bourbon reforms in the Americas. Drawing on their own and others' research, the authors also provide more inclusive coverage of the role of women of various ethnicities in Spanish Texas and of the legal rights of women on the Texas frontier, demonstrating that whether European or Indian, elite or commoner, slave owner or slave, women enjoyed legal protections not heretofore fully appreciated.

Genres: History, Westerns, Nonfiction

388 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1991

About the author

Donald Eugene Chipman is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Texas. Chipman is a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association, and he served as an advisory editor and contributor to the New Handbook of Texas. In 2003, King Juan Carlos I of Spain knighted him as a Caballero of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, the highest honor that can be accorded to a non-Spaniard.

Reviews

[Chris Maska · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Colonial History of Texas Matters Today

Texas is and has been a huge land. One might conclude that its sparse European population before the Texas Independence, means that colonial Texas and Texas as a Mexican state has little influence today. That conclusion is profoundly incorrect. It is not just place names and a few old churches and forts that have an impact on today's Texas. Spanish family law and land law continue to shape Texas. Community property and homestead protections are two important concepts that came from Spanish law. Community property in particular protects women far more than common law doctrines. In addition, Texas music, architecture, and ranching have strong pre independence roots. The story of Texas is fundamentally incomplete without a thorough study of 1519-1821. This book provides a great introduction to Spanish Texas.

[Charles Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historians of Texas tend to treat the Spanish colonial era as a colorful, but for the most part irrelevant, prelude to the rest of the state's history (Poyo and Hinojosa). But Chipman sets the record straight, son! Vernacular Spanish words and names (patio, plaza, Alamo, San Antonio, virtually every river name in Texas, etc.), inheritance, music and visual art, the Roman Catholic religion, foodways, adoptions (yes, adoptions), ranching and farming, probate codes, federal joint income tax filing (yes, I said that), architecture, and the law (which affects the lives of all Texans today): all of these are part of our collective inheritance and remembrance of Spanish Texas!

Spoiler alert: Here come those despicable, boorish, and racist Anglo American illegal immigrants! lol

[Virgil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading for all Texans and those who want to be.

Essential reading to understand the underpinnings, diversity, and unity of not just Texas, but Texans. This book covers the influences of the centuries of Spanish rule, culture, religion, law struggles, and occupation of Texas before the anglos' arrival. The scope of research and collaboration for this history is astounding. It had to be a work of love. If I taught Texas history, it would be a prerequisite for my class.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great history of Texas from the 1530s until 1821, the nearly 300 years prior to the era of Texas history that Texans are more familiar with. If you want to understand Spanish Texas with its missions, presidios, local Indians, explorers, and military men, this is a great place to start. The reader also comes away with a better understanding of the rivalry with France, and the international politics at play in Spanish Texas.

[Jerry Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided great insight into my understanding of the history of Spanish Texas. Though there were times that were a bit slower going in terms of reading, overall quite informative and recommended for anyone with an interest in the topic.

[Shanna Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a lot of information, but I wish it would have delved into slavery in Spanish Texas a little more.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening, but actually not long enough.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive but dry account of the Texas lands during Spanish rule.

[Craig Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really only read half of it. It’s good though.

[Vanjr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rereading this about 10 years after I first read it. It is still not easy. I find the Spanish names of people and locations difficult to keep up with due to my almost non-existent Spanish language knowledge. This is however the only book that focuses on this time period in Texas history. The last chapter has an interesting legacy of remnants of Spanish TX that have lasted until to day which i found quite interesting. It appears much of it is not just geographic names and words, but rather many legal concepts and principals that are unique to TX compared to states with a more British background. Chipman teaches (or at least did when he wrote this book) at North Tx, but has a sober an realistic view of TX history unlike some biased writers (TR Fehrenbach for example).

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prior to Mexican and later Texas Independence, Texas was a Spanish possessiopn. At times ignored, it served as a buffer to England and later Ammerican immigration.