Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Long before Texas became a republic or a U.S. state, Spanish explorers and missionaries laid the first permanent European footholds in the region. The story begins in the late 17th century, far from the iconic Alamo.
The first permanent Spanish mission in present-day Texas, San Francisco de la Espada, was established in 1690 near what is now Austin. Part of a chain of missions intended to convert Indigenous peoples and secure Spanish claims against French encroachment from Louisiana, it marked the beginning of sustained European presence.
Nearly three decades later, in 1718, the Spanish founded San Antonio de Béxar—the civilian settlement that grew around Mission San Antonio de Valero (later known as the Alamo) and the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar (a military garrison). San Antonio was strategically positioned as a way station on the Camino Real (Royal Road) linking Nacogdoches (near the Louisiana border) with Mexico City, facilitating supply, communication, and troop movement.
These early missions and the settlement at San Antonio became the nucleus of Spanish Texas. The mission system expanded to include five sites along the San Antonio River—today a UNESCO World Heritage Site—while San Antonio evolved into the province's administrative and military hub. The founding of Texas, in the European sense, began not with a battle but with a mission bell and a royal road.