History of Texas Land

When Christopher Columbus stepped ashore in the West Indies in October, 1492, he drew the curtain to an immense area of land, some fertile and some desert—land of all types and for all purposes.

So vast was this discovery that land-conscious European powers who sponsored New World exploration were soon giving away large areas with a surprising disregard for their value. However, when rival powers disputed their claims to specific territories in the New World, they were quick to argue. The effect was that nations which matured in the Western Hemisphere grew up with a high regard for land.

From this it may be inferred that the history of any nation or state has been and continues to be largely a history of land. The political, social, and economic superstructure of a people is traceable to the land they control. Especially is this true of western nations and of Texas.

In what is now Southwestern United States there were several settlements of Mexicans and Indians on both sides of the Rio Grande as early as 1750. These people held no title to their land. They had assembled for reasons of economics and security.

Agents of the King of Spain finally arrived in the New World in 1767, surveyed the river lands, and issued titles. With the exception of Laredo, there was little colonization until 1815, when the Spanish governor began to feel the French encroachment on the east. Before then, Spain’s main effort had been directed toward the erection of missions, which required constant support and defense, rather than toward establishing civil settlements that could defend and support themselves.

Thus, the vast area of the Southwest was sparsely populated and lay as a wilderness to American settlers who had pushed to its borders from the United States. A grant to colonize was made to Moses Austin in January, 1821, to settle 300 families in Texas; this was the first deviation from the Spanish policy of maintaining a predominately native population.

Later in 1821, the Spanish yoke was thrown off by Mexico, and the Mexicans continued the policy of granting land to Americans. A liberal colonization policy brought an immediate and widespread response. By 1835 it is estimated that there were over 30,000 people in the Texas colonies—people who had come to Texas not as adventurers or speculators, but to establish new homes. The fourteen-year period had wrought many changes. Texas was no longer a complete wilderness. Many areas had been cleared and turned into small agricultural districts where the people were both industrious and self-reliant.