|
Spanish regulations changes frontier line in Texas
On this day in 1772, the New Regulations for Presidios were formally
issued by King Charles III of Spain. They changed the settlement pattern
of Texas. Since Spain had acquired the Louisiana Territory from France
near the conclusion of the French and Indian War (1754-63), Texas was no
longer needed as a buffer against French designs, and the expense of
maintaining military establishments in East Texas could be eliminated.
The New Regulations were based on a 1769 report prepared by the Marqués
de Rubí after he led a massive, twenty-three-month inspection tour from
Sonora to Texas. The regulations established the Provincias Internas, a
huge semiautonomous administrative unit of nine provinces, including
Texas, and a defensive cordon along the new "realistic" frontier that
consisted of fifteen presidios spaced 100 miles apart. This new frontier
ran from the Gulf of California to El Paso, then along the Rio Grande to
San Juan Bautista, and thence to Matagorda Bay. Although San Antonio was
behind the line, it was not abandoned because of obligations to Spanish
settlers and converted Indians there.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- NEW REGULATIONS FOR PRESIDIOS
- PRESIDIOS
- RUBI, MARQUES DE
- PROVINCIAS INTERNAS
- SPANISH TEXAS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Spanish colonizer of South Texas dies in Mexico City (1770)
- Washerwoman buys valuable Dallas property (1869)
|
