In the 1670s, French traders had begun to establish trading posts south of the Great Lakes. The posts stretched from the Great Lakes area to the headwaters of the Mississippi and south into the interior of today�s United States. In 1682, the French trader Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, led a group that traveled south from their base in the Great Lakes region. La Salle and his men struck the Mississippi River and canoed down it to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed all the land drained by the big river and its tributaries for the King of France. The claim included today�s Texas. After his journey down the Mississippi, Frenchmen enlarged their vision for trade in North America. They intended to stretch their posts all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

La Salle intended to be part of the French expansion. In France, he returned to the Gulf of Mexico in late 1684 to establish a colony. He meant to land at the mouth of the Mississippi, but he missed it. He continued down the coast until he reached Matagorda Bay in today�s Texas. One of his ship's, the L'Aimable, ran aground trying to enter the narrow channel and many of the supplies needed for the founding of the colony are lost. Part of his crew set sail back to France on another ship, the Le Joly. That left La Salle and 180 colonists with one ship, the Belle.

In the vicinity of today�s Victoria County, at Garcitas Creek, La Salle and his men built Fort Saint-Louis. The colony struggled from the beginning. They were in a most inhospitable area, and they came to believe that they might die there. Looking for help, in October of 1685, La Salle led a small expedition trying to find the mouth of the Mississippi River. The party reached a point close to the juncture of the Concho River and the Rio Grande before giving up and returning to Fort Saint-Louis. The Belle had followed with other members of the colony, and on its return to the Texas coast, it sunk in Matagorda Bay.

Desperate, La Salle then developed a plan in 1687 to travel overland to the Mississippi River and go on to Illinois country where he had earlier established some trading posts. The trip was hard and La Salle�s men mutinied, killing La Salle. Meanwhile, Indians attacked Fort Saint-Louis. They killed or enslaved the surviving Frenchmen and destroyed the fort.

Spanish authorities learned that La Salle had established a post in Spanish territory. Looking for the French post, Alonso De Leon led several expeditions along the Texas coast from 1686 to 1689. He finally found the ruins of Fort Saint-Louis on the Garcitas. In 1690, he led yet another expedition. It included Father Fray Damian Massanet who wanted to establish Catholic missions to Christianize the Indians of the region. This time he went north of the old fort and made contact with the East Texas Caddos. About 8,000 of them were allied into a confederacy. The Indians used the word "Tejas", which meant "friends" or "allies" to describe their confederacy. From this word evolved the name Texas.

Map of Deleon Expeditions, Courtesy of Texas Digital Map Library

Helped by de Leon, Massanet established two missions in Caddo country, but they later had to be abandoned when the Spaniards made enemies of the Caddos by mistreating them. The Spaniards did not respect their native religion nor their way of life. Again, the Spaniards temporarily lost interest in Texas because of Massanet�s failure. Their interest in Texas would be renewed once more because of the French presence in the area.

Additional Resources

1. Who was Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle?(7.2:B)
2. Where was the French Fort Saint-Louis? What happened to the fort?
3. Who were Alonso de Leon and Father Damian Massanet? What did they do?(7.2:B)
4. Why did the Caddo Indians turn against the Spaniards?
5. Who was Louis Juchereau Saint-Denis?(7.2:B)
6. What mission was established in 1718? What was the significance of this mission?(7.1:C)
7. What impact did the Catholic missions have on Texas?(7.2:B)

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