EMPRESARIO. An empresario was a land agent or land contractor. Under the system used by the Mexican government as a means of colonization (see MEXICAN COLONIZATION LAWS), outstanding Texas empresarios included Stephen F. Austin, Samuel May Williams, Green DeWitt, Martín De León, Haden Edwards, Sterling C. Robertson, James Power, James Hewetson, John McMullen, James McGloin, and Arthur G. Wavell.^qqv

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Virginia Henderson, "Minor Empresario Contracts for the Colonization of Texas, 1825-1834," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 31, 32 (April, July 1928).