The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 168
476 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
station in order to support the settlements in East Texas. San Antonio
was thus founded, with Mission San Antonio de Valero and the pre-
sidio of Bexar, in May, 1718.
During the years before 1741 the Spanish province of Texas and
New Philippines slowly developed as a defensive borderland with as-
sociated problems. The capital was located far to the east among the
Adaes Indians, isolated from the settlements at San Antonio and La
Bahia and too close to the French post at Natchitoches to be very ef-
fective against a French invasion. In 1731 the civil jurisdiction Villa
de San Fernando de B6xar was added to the establishments at San
Antonio. The king approved the introduction of four hundred Canary
Islanders to San Antonio, a number that would have created a strong
population base, but only fifty-six islanders could be persuaded to
seek their fortunes in Texas. The Franciscan missionaries offered the
Indians the structured life of the missions, while the French traders
lured them away by offering them a variety of trade goods. The
Apache were being driven by the Comanche out of the northwest into
the San Antonio area and were soon to be followed by their attackers
and years of warfare.3 Texas became a defensive borderland of great
distances, scattered settlements with small Hispanic populations, hos-
tile Indians invading the province, and intruding French traders able
to maintain strong alliances with the Indians.
Thousands of miles to the east across the Atlantic Ocean, where
Philip V was reigning as king of this far-flung Spanish empire,
Thomas Phelipe de Winthuysen was nominated interim governor of
Texas by an influential nobleman, Pedro de Figueroa y Salazar. The
fact that Salazar was a captain general in the army, a member of the
council of war, and lord of the bedchamber indicates that Winthuysen
had an important friend in the Spanish court. Winthuysen was duly
appointed governor on February 1, 1741. His name appears to be of
Flemish origin; unfortunately little biographical information is avail-
3John Francis Bannon, The Spanish Borderland Frontier, 1513-z1821 (New York, 1970),
108-115; Charles W. Hackett, "The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and His Recovery
of Texas from the French, 1719-1723," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XLIX (Oct.,
1945), 193-214 (the Quarterly is cited hereafter as SHQ); Herbert Eugene Bolton, Texas
in the Middle Eighteenth Century. Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administra-
tion (Berkeley, 1915), 14-41; Castafieda, Our Catholic Heritage, I, 341-376, II, 268-310o;
William Edward Dunn, "Apache Relations in Texas, 1718-1750," Quarterly of the Texas
State Historical Association, XIV (Jan., 1911), 198-274 (this journal is cited hereafter as
QTSHA); Frank D. Reeve, "The Apache Indians in Texas," SHQ, L (Oct., 1946), 189-
195; John, Storms Brewed, 155-225, 258-303168
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985, periodical, 1984/1985; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101210/m1/202/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.