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LAS ISLITAS, TEXAS. Las Islitas was at the junction of the Medina and San Antonio rivers at a ford called El Paso de Borregas or Sheep Pass, fourteen miles southeast of downtown San Antonio in southeastern Bexar County. The settlement probably originated in the eighteenth century, possibly earlier. Its name may have come from the small islands formed at the junction of the rivers, or it may have commemorated the fact that some of the early settlers were Canary Islanders.^qv Many of the settlers, however, possibly antedated the Canary Islanders, for they called themselves "the true and most ancient inhabitants and conquerors of the territory and no expense to the crown." The mixed Spanish, mestizo, and Indian population supported itself with farming and ranching. After the battle of the Alamo^qv Las Islitas suffered from Indian attacks that drove many of its inhabitants to Mexico; other settlers moved to Graytown. By the 1870s only ruins of the old homesteads were visible.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bexar Archives, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Minnie B. Cameron

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/hvl30.html (accessed November 22, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

The Handbook of Texas Online is a project of the Texas State Historical Association (http://www.tshaonline.org).

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Last Updated: January 18, 2008
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