Chapter Overview

---

The New World was made up of diverse cultures even before Europeans arrived. Of those arrivals, the most famous occurred in 1492. At that time, the population north of the Rio Grande numbered roughly 12 million, 35 million south of the Rio Grande to the Isthmus of Panama and some 60 million people on the continent of South America and various Caribbean Islands. The Maya, generally recognized as the most intellectually advanced, contrasted greatly with the culture of the Indians of Texas. There was also a great degree of diversity to be found among the various indigenous groups--bonded mostly around self-reliant bands of kinship. Each group adapted to the environment — as each diverse geographic region determined the group’s economy and lifestyle.

Indigenous Peoples

The Indians of Texas included the Coastal people—notably Karankawas and Coahuiltecans who wandered the coastal and southern parts of Texas continually on the search for foodstuffs. The Caddo Indians represented the westernmost flank of Mississippian culture (5), characterized by its agriculturalist, sedentary way of life, “though the Caddo also borrowed from tribes to the west (in New Mexico) and the south ( Mexico).” Caddoan society was the most developed of all Texas Indian groups and they traded extensively. Another group that made their living as traders and traveled as far east as Texas’ south Plains were the Jumanos who inhabited the Trans-Pecos area. Misunderstood by ethnographers, another branch of the Jumanos was sedentary, agriculturalist, and became accomplished merchants.

The Plains culture was distinctly different. All of the various groups were not in Texas until the eighteen and nineteenth centuries. The Comanches were the dominant force in Texas because of their high mobility (with acquisition of the horse) and equestrian skills (acquired in the seventeenth century). With a lack of a pan-tribal political structure, the Comanches created intense turmoil even among their Plains neighbors, especially the Apaches.

The First Europeans—Colonizing Baggage

As a result of the Iberian conquest, the New World was subsequently impacted by Greek, Roman, Visigoth and Moorish influence. The early Spanish explorers sought their fortunes in the New World and Texas and, of course, brought with them colonizing baggage (17)—the trappings of Spanish civilization, much of it a legacy of Spain’s own Reconquista (10-11) experience. The Spaniards used the rancho, the mission, the villa, and the presidio (see chapter 2, 29-35) -- to settle the American Southwest. Other manifestations of the Reconquista that eventually impacted the New World was the raising of sheep and cattle in the reconquered areas of southern Castile. Cattle raising led to the development of the vaquero with his distinctive dress, equipment and skills. While Spain employed modified forms of traditional institutions, the Dutch, English and French also sought to establish footholds in the region east of the Mississippi River. Although success was limited, Christianizing the Indian groups and making those in South and West Texas agriculturalists were Spain’s most important contributions while its primary goal remained thwarting French encroachment.

Incorporation

Incorporation (25), the process of transplanting the Spanish civilization in the New World, insured defense of the northernmost frontier “from foreign threats by linking this region to social and political systems in New Spain’s interior” (25), assimilating or annihilating the indigenous population at the same time. Ties to the Spanish empire were established and maintained through the presidio, the mission, the rancho and the villa.