San Antonio
In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived at a small American Indian settlement on a river. It was June 13, the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padova, and the group named the river San Antonio.In 1716, Spain's Council of War approved a site on the San Antonio River for the construction of a fort and Roman Catholic mission. The fort and mission were named San Antonio. Over the next few decades, the settlement slowly grew, and the location of the fort and mission changed several times. San Antonio eventually became the largest settlement in the northern part of the Spanish territories, and became the capital of the Spanish, and then the Mexican, province of Tejas.In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain. The Mexican government invited American settlers into Tejas to help populate what was essentially an empty province. Over the next few years, the anglos...
