Native American tribes resided in the area when present-day Texas was settled in 1682 by the Spanish at Isleta, near present-day El Paso. Between 1685 and 1700, Franciscan missions and Spanish military outposts (or presidios) were established in east Texas at Nacagdoches, Goliad, and San Antonio. In 1718 San Antonio, with its military post and mission, became the administrative headquarters of the region under Spanish jurisdiction. The province of Texas was established in 1727 with vaguely defined boundaries. Groups of colonists supplemented the population of soldiers and priests, particularly in San Antonio but in smaller numbers elsewhere. Early municipalities were organized in Texas under the Spanish and Mexican governments. Between 1731 and 1836 twenty-nine political subdivisions were founded completely or partially in Texas.

As a result of the Louisiana purchase in 1803, a boundary dispute erupted with Spain over the Louisiana-Texas border. Spain claimed land east to the Red River, while the United States contended its territory expanded west to the Sabine River. The dispute reached a temporary compromise when a region of neutral ground was established in 1806. Because neither country had jurisdiction over this area, it became a haven for outlaws.

Louisiana Catholics were encouraged to emigrate and settle in Texas, and Spanish officials loosened traditional barriers against alien immigration. The Sabine River was accepted as the western boundary of Louisiana in 1819, although border problems continued. The next year Arkansas Territory organized Miller County, partially inside Texas.

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, and claimed the area of today's Texas. The new Mexican government, while insisting that only immigrants of Roman Catholic faith were desired, did permit American settlers to enter under the auspices of certain grantees (impresarios).

Beginning about 1809, Quapaw, Osage, and Oto tribes were transported to the region. Large groups from Tennessee and Arkansas migrated into Texas beginning in the 1820s. Others from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky followed. The municipality of Refugio was created in 1825, followed by Austin in 1827, Goliad about 1828, and Nacogdoches and Liberty in 1831.

Stephen F. Austin, the first American impresario, inherited his father's grant and established a colony in Texas which was part of the new nation of Mexico. His colonists were among the first Anglo-Americans to settle in present-day Texas. Boundaries were undefined and colonists spread from the coast to the old San Antonio road and from the Lavaca to the San Jacinto rivers. Austin's colony was the stimulus for others to follow.

Contracts from the Mexican government continued to be issued through 1832. Duplication of granted land and undefined boundaries complicated land titles. The number of early municipalities, organized in the eighteenth century under Spanish and Mexican governments, were increased in the 1830s. A comparison of the names of the last and first municipalities reflects the great influx of Americans into present-day Texas by that time.

Families from South Carolina and Georgia migrated overland through Alabama and Mississippi to Texas; others left Alabama and Mississippi for Texas. Some traveled by ship from the port at New Orleans to Galveston and Indianola.

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led his Mexican troops against American forces. The ensuing military conflict included the Battle of the Alamo. Four days before the decisive victory at San Jacinto, the Republic of Texas was established on 2 March 1836.

By 1836 American citizens residing in the state were actively promoting statehood for Texas. To encourage immigration the Republic of Texas offered colonization contracts beginning in 1841. After some boundaries were defined and settled, Congress accepted the Republic of Texas into the Union in 1845 as the twenty-eighth state.

This incited the Mexicans and led to the Mexican War, 1846-48, which was fought over and on Texas soil. The Mexican government hoped to retain Texas and other territory in the southwest which both countries claimed, including California. The United States was victorious and made good its claims to the southwest. To make the area suitable for extending settlements a number of fortifications were built by the federal government to protect settlers from the native Americans. Conflict with native Americans continued intermittently through the early decades of statehood.

Prior to 1850, over 30,000 Germans had settled in Texas. Sympathies were divided among Texans over the slavery and states' rights issues that preceded the hostilities between the North and the South. Over the objections of Gov. Samuel Houston and the German settlers, Texas seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, supplying many soldiers to the Confederate army. Texas was readmitted in 1866.

Expansion of cotton production, livestock, wheat growing, and oil provided great stimuli for growth. Several groups of European immigrants settled in Texas, including Czechs, Poles, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, and Irish. During the Depression, the Post Cereal Company offered inexpensive land in west Texas for those who would contract to grow grain for the company's products. The state has continued to be a destination point for its Mexican neighbors seeking employment in farm and industry.

Native American
The most significant tribes represented in the state include Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, Crow, Wichita, Ute, and Creek. Other tribes in Texas include Arkokosa, Attacapa, Caddo, Coahuiltecan, Karankawa, Nacogdoches, Nasoni, Neche, and Tonkawa. Most of those remaining in Texas in 1859 were forcibly removed to Indian Territory. During 1875 the surviving Comanche surrendered to federal forces. The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation remains in the state.

Records for Native Americans in Texas after 1845 are on file in the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and in Bureau records in the National Archives. Those records in the Texas State Archives pertaining to Native Americans are usually insignificant for genealogical purposes. A better collection is housed by the
Oklahoma Historical Society
Indian Archives Division
Historical Building
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105.

Republic of Texas Settlers
The Republic of Texas ceased to exist when President Anson Jones handed over the reins of government to the United States of America on 19 February 1846. Descent from one of Austin's Old Three Hundred or other residents of Texas prior to that date has always been a genealogical asset.

Latinos
There were two distinct Spanish colonies in present-day Texas during the early stage of the area's settlement. Although discouraged by Apache and Comanche, the Tejas colony was founded with a mission in 1690; it was located along the Nueces River and then north and east, near present-day Crockett. The other colony was that of Nuevo Santander in the Rio Grande Valley. Twenty-four settlements were established between 1749 and 1755.

Mexican population increased slowly in the state. In the early 1800s the Tejas population was less than 5,000, concentrated near San Antonio, Goliad, and Nacogdoches. In 1835, the population of the Nuevo Santander settlements had increased to 15,000. After statehood Latinos in Texas faced difficulties such as property rights, justice in the American court system, and differences in religion, language, and custom. The 1850 federal census shows that Latinos represented only 5 percent of the state's population.

During the Civil War, approximately 3,000 Tejanos enlisted in the Confederate Army, but many deserted. Other Tejanos joined the Union Army. The state's constitutional convention of 1868 authorized bounty-land grants for Union service: eight acres for six months service and 320 acres for service of one year or longer. Many Latinos who served for the Union became U.S. citizens during Reconstruction.

During the 1920s there were waves of migration from Mexico into Texas and other southwestern states. In 1960 Latinos numbered 1,448,900 in Texas, the highest concentrations in three counties: Hidalgo, Bexar, and El Paso.