9781422287415

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Stephen F. Austin created this map of the province of Texas in 1822. In 1821 Austin and his father, Moses, led a group of Americans to Texas and received permission from the Mexican government to settle there.The map, drawn on cloth and labeled in Spanish, shows where the Americans settled in the eastern part of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico.

“Come and Take It”

I n the 1600s and 1700s, the Spaniards established mis- sions across the Southwest. They were small, walled villages composed of churches, trading posts, and hospi- tals. One of the missions was erected in 1723 just outside the Texas farming town of San Antonio. By the early 1800s, the mission at San Antonio was no longer serving as a church. Instead, the Spanish army used it as a fort. The soldiers called it the Alamo in honor of their hometown in Mexico, Alamo de Parras. In Spanish, the word alamo means “cottonwood,” which is a type of tree common to the region. Although Spain controlled large amounts of land— they claimed territory as far west as the Pacific coast of

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