History Of San Antonio
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History Of San Antonio
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 Mexi ...
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Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States). About one hundred Texians were garrisoned at the mission at the time, with around a hundred subsequent reinforcements led by eventual Alamo co-commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis. On February 23, approximately 1,500 Mexicans marched into San Antonio de Béxar as the first step in a campaign to retake Texas. In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repelling two attacks, the Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian fighters withdrew into interior buildings. Those who were unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they a ...
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Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the Mexico–United States border, international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven National parks of the ...
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Menger Hotel
The Menger Hotel is an historic hotel located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, US, on the site of the Battle of the Alamo. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as a contributing building in the Alamo Plaza Historic District. (PDF document also availablhere .) The Menger family William and Mary Menger opened the Menger hotel in 1859 in what is now San Antonio's Alamo Plaza Historic District, which includes the Alamo Mission. The plans for the hotel arose through the popularity of William Menger's brewery. The Mengers sold the property in 1881 to the Kampmann family. William Menger had emigrated from Germany to America in 1847. Menger settled in San Antonio and resumed his previous trade as a cooper and brewer. With his German roots Menger brought beer to San Antonio. He opened the Menger Brewery in 1855 on the battle-grounds of the Alamo (now known as the Alamo Plaza). Construction In 1858 the Mengers hired an architect, John M. Fries, along wi ...
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Brackenridge Park
Brackenridge Park is a in San Antonio, Texas, United States, on the city's Broadway Corridor just north of downtown San Antonio. Brackenridge Park also refers to the district of the city where the park is located. History It was created in 1899 from land donated to the city by George Washington Brackenridge. Recreation and features Attractions within the park include the San Antonio Zoo, the Witte Museum, the Japanese Tea Gardens, the Sunken Garden Theater The San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden, or Sunken Gardens in Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Texas, opened in an abandoned limestone rock quarry in the early 20th century. It was known also as Chinese Tea Gardens, Chinese Tea Garden Gate, Chinese Su ..., the Tuesday Musical Club, First Tee of San Antonio and the narrow gauge San Antonio Zoo Eagle train ride, which first opened in 1956. Other nearby attractions include the DoSeum and the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Inside the park, there are multiple baseball fie ...
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Acequia
An acequia () or (, also known as síquia , all from ) is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Acequias are found in parts of Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and what is now the Southwestern United States (northern New Mexico and southern Colorado). In the United States, the oldest known irrigation canals are in Arizona and date back to 1200 BCE. Irrigation was extensively used by the Pueblo peoples in New Mexico in the Pre-Columbian era. Spanish colonizers arrived in New Mexico in 1598 and brought irrigation methods from Iberia based on the Arab Agricultural Revolution. Scholars describe acequias as "technological systems that are designed, maintained, and operated to meet a variety of productive goals, social services, and health needs, with the practice of irrigated agriculture being of paramount importance." The traditional form of governance over acequias survives in New Mexico and southern Col ...
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Acequia Madre De Valero (San Antonio)
Acequia Madre de Valero is an 18th-century agricultural irrigation canal built by the Spanish and located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. When Martín de Alarcón founded San Antonio for Spain by establishing San Antonio de Valero Mission in 1718, Franciscan priest Antonio de Olivares and the Payaya and Pastia peoples, dug Acequia Madre de Valero by hand. 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 irrigation system. Acequia Madre de Valero ran from the area currently known as Brackenridge Park southward to what is now Hemisfair 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 same year was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Acequia Madre de Valero was ...
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Presidio San Antonio De Béxar
Presidio de Béxar was a Spanish fort built near the San Antonio River, located in what is now San Antonio, Texas, in the United States. It was designed for protection of the mission San Antonio de Valero and the Villa de Béjar. The Presidio de Béxar was founded on May 5, 1718 by Spanish colonial official Martín de Alarcón and his party of thirty-five soldiers. The Villa de Béjar is known for being the first Spanish settlement of San Antonio and consisted of the families of the Presidio Soldiers and those of the prior expeditions. It also served to secure Spain's claim to the region against possible encroachment from other European powers. Establishment From the Convent of Querétaro, several expeditions were organized to the region of Texas, an area of great strategic importance to the Spanish crown. With that goal, in 1675 an expedition formed by Fray Antonio de Olivares, Fray Francisco Hidalgo, Fray Juan Larios, and Fernando del Bosque was sent to explore and describe ...
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New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several domains established during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish conquest of the Americas, and had its capital in Mexico City. Its jurisdiction comprised a large area of the southern and western portions of North America, mainly what became Mexico and the Southwestern United States, but also California, Florida and Louisiana (New Spain), Louisiana; Central America as Mexico, the Caribbean like Hispaniola and Martinique, Martinica, and northern parts of South America, even Colombia; several Pacific archipelagos, including the Philippines and Guam. Additional Asian colonies included "Spanish Formosa", on the island of Taiwan. After the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, conqueror Hernán Cortés named the territory New S ...
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Alamo Mission In San Antonio
The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States). About one hundred Texians were garrisoned at the mission at the time, with around a hundred subsequent reinforcements led by eventual Alamo co-commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis. On February 23, approximately 1,500 Mexicans marched into San Antonio de Béxar as the first step in a campaign to retake Texas. In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repelling two attacks, the Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian fighters withdrew into interior buildings. Those who were unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they ...
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Mission San Francisco Solano (Mexico)
Mission San Francisco Solano was a Spanish mission established March 1, 1700 by Franciscan missionaries. Along with Mission San Juan Bautista, Mission San Bernardo, and the nearby San Juan Bautista , it belonged to a complex collectively known as the San Juan Bautista Missions. History The mission was officially founded on March 1, 1700 by Diego Ramón, with Franciscan missonaries Antonio de Olivares and Francisco Hidalgo in attendance. It was originally located from the Rio Grande in Coahuila state, northeastern Mexico, in what is today the Municipality of Guerrero. The Native American people brought into the mission belonged to various Coahuiltecan groups. The Terocodame and Xarame tribes were the most numerous; other groups present included the Jaram, Papanac, Payaguá, and Kumeyaay. Baptismal records show Payaya present by the year 1706. Later, members of the Xarame and Sijame tribes were present as well. Letters from Olivares complain of ingratitude from the mi ...
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Alamo Pano
The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a siege of the Alamo, 13-day siege, Mexico, Mexican troops under president of Mexico, President Antonio López de Santa Anna, General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States). About one hundred Texians were garrisoned at the mission at the time, with around a hundred subsequent reinforcements led by eventual Alamo co-commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis. On February 23, approximately 1,500 Mexicans marched into San Antonio de Béxar as the first step in a campaign to retake Texas. In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repelling two attacks, the Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian fighters withdrew into in ...
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Coahuila Y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) for petition of Miguel Ramos Arizpe, that changing the capital for dispute of political groups, but Monclova recovered primacy because it was the colonial capital since 1689; this action provoked a struggle between the residents of Saltillo and Monclova in 1838–1840, but the political actions of Santa Anna convinced the monclovitas to accept the final change of political powers to Saltillo. In the case of Tejas its territory was organized for administrative purposes, with the state being divided into three districts: Béxar, comprising the area covered by Texas; Monclova, comprising northern Coahuila; and Río Grande Saltillo, comprising southern Coahuila. The state remained in existence until the adoption of the 1835 "Constitutional B ...
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