Presidio La Bahia
The Presidio la Bahia is a National Historic Landmark and is still part of the Catholic Church as the one and only Spanish fort remaining.
The Presidio la Bahia is translated to fort on the bay and the Our Lady of Loreto Chapel was built on the site of where LaSalle’s defeated Fort St. Louis west of Garcitas Creek near Port Lavaca in 1721 to protect the coastline from the French it was established by the country of Spain. Another fact about the name is Presidio la Bahia this name also appears in Spanish Records as Nuestra Señora Santa María de Loreto de la Bahía del Espíritu Santo in order to honor Our Lady of Loreto. The main reason that Presidio la Bahia was began was to protect Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo del Zuñiga Mission also to keep the French from the Spanish territory also to guard the interests of the Spanish Crown.
That location was left in 1726 due to problems with the Karankawa Indians. Then it was moved inland near Victoria during the time it was there it became very prosperous and was had farming and cattle ranching that supplied food for the Presidio and other missions with plenty of food. It moved to the present site of what is now Goliad, Texas in 1749.
In February 1750 only 4 months after the move was commanded by Captain Manuel Ramìrez de la Piszena and it had a large barracks and forty temporary houses built out of wood and caliche for the garrison soldiers and their families.
Presidio La Bahia served as the defense of the coastal area after the Presidios at Los Adaes and Los Orcoquisac were closed although it is inland. Because of this Presidio La Bahia was the only fort to participate in the American Revolution in 1776. It played a very important part in The Amer...
... middle of paper ...
...s. http://www.presidiolabahia.org/for_educators.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
9 Flags At Presidio La Bahia - Goliad, Texas. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/459664. Web. 25 June 2010.
NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LORETO PRESIDIO. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/uqn11.html . Web. 25 June 2010.
Picture Tour of Presidio La Bahia. http://www.burger.com/alabahia.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
Presidio La Bahia. http://www.presidiolabahia.org/. Web. 25 June 2010.
Presidio La Bahia Where Texas History Comes Alive. http://www.victoriadiocese.org/presidio/presidio.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
The Goliad Massacre. http://www.presidiolabahia.org/massacre.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
The Texas Revolution. http://www.presidiolabahia.org/texas_revolution.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
Under Nine Flags. http://www.presidiolabahia.org/under_nine_flags.htm. Web. 25 June 2010.
When the Europeans first migrated to America, they didn’t know much about the ancestral background of the different types of the Indian tribes that were settled in Virginia and along the East Coast. Many of the Indian tribes became hostile towards the colonist because the colonists were interfering with their way of life. This lead the natives to attempt to destroy the frontier settlements. Many forts in this area were erected to protect the settlers and their families. One the historical land...
C. W. Hackett, ed., Historical Documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, vol. III (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937), 327-35.
In the late 1800’s the American people and their government became more willing to risk war in defense of American interests overseas, support for building a large modern navy began to grow. Supporters argued that if the United States did not build up its navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut out of foreign markets by Europeans. Captain Alfred T. Mahan observed that building a modern navy meant that the U.S. had to acquire territory for naval bases overseas. This would enable them to operate a navy far from home. A country needed bases and coaling stations in distant regions, which was exactly what they did by having Havana, Cuba be one of its ports. Another factor that was part of the Navy’s modernization was the USS Maine, which was probably the most famous ship of its era. The USS Maine was one of the Navy’s first armored battle ships. It was one of the first U.S. naval vessels with electrical lighting. It had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 392 officers and enlisted men. On the evening of February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded. Of the 345 officers and sailors aboard the Maine, 266 died. There were many ideas of how this explosion occurred, namely: the ship’s ammunition supplies blew up, a fire accidentally ignited the ammunition, and that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition. At the time Cuba was a Spanish colony, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The Cuban people were fighting for independence from Spain. During this Cuban revolt against Spain and the American battleship Maine dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. This immediately made Americans jump to the Conclusion that Spain blew up the Maine. American’s felt that since they were allies with Cuba that Spain was trying to harm America, as to not interfere with Cuba’s revolt against them. Within a matter of weeks, Spain and the U.
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
Doroteo Aranga learned to hate aristocratic Dons, who worked he and many other Mexicans like slaves, Doroteo Aranga also known as Pancho villa hated aristocratic because he made them work like animals all day long with little to eat. Even more so, he hated ignorance within the Mexican people that allowed such injustices. At the young age of fifteen, Aranga came home to find his mother trying to prevent the rape of his sister. Aranga shot the man and fled to the Sierra Madre for the next fifteen years, marking him as a fugitive for the first time. It was then that he changed his name from Doroteo Aranga to Francisco "Pancho" Villa, a man he greatly admired.
Over the course of the Spanish-American war , the obvious need for a canal came apparent.The canal would stregthen the navy, and it would make easier defense of the islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The problem of where to build the canal came into play. Congress rejected Nicaragua and Panama was an unwilling part of this project. The course of the building was shifted to Colu...
The year was 1699, and two Spanish missionaries accompanied by a contingent of Spanish soldados were sent to northern Coahuila. Their instructions were to establish missions for the primitive tribes, hunters and nut gatherers that lived along the Rio Grande, the great river of the north. Gold, glory and God, essentially in that order, had motivated the founding of the missions. The Alamo itself was founded in 1718; however, due to disease and a reluctance of the locals to embrace Christianity the mission was abandoned in 1793. It wasn’t ...
Two conflicts during this time are seen as significant towards this battle between the interests of the Natives in the Americas. One of which was between two men: Bartolomé Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. Las Casas defends t...
Las Meninas is considered one of the greatest paintings of all time by critics and casual admirers of art alike. It was painted during a time when Spain’s glory was declining, and Velázquez was surrounded by the remnants of a once-great court, which was now in shambles and debt. King Philip had entered depression, due to the fact that he did not have a suitable male heir to the throne and was bankrupted by the Thirty Years’ War, and paid little effort to governing his country. He had lost power, and his portrait in the mirror of Las Meninas illustrates the shadow of what Philip had once been. The center and main focus of the painting is La Infanta Margarita, Philip’s five-year-old daughter. Light streams through a window onto her face, illuminating her with a golden light. Two of her meninas, or ladies-in-waiting, are located on either side of the princess, one kneeling and offering her a glass of water with another rising from a curtsy. On the right side, the dwarf Mari-Bárbola and the midget Nicolas Pertusato stand, along with a brown dog. Behind them, a man and woman are in conversation. On the left side, a massive canvas looms over the group as Velázquez, the artist, stands behind it with his brush and palette. On the dark back wall, two paintings hang along with a mirror which reflects the countenances of the king and queen. A man stands in the doorway of a door in the back of the room, with his hand on a curtain as if he has just pulled it open. The room appears almost empty, save for the figures in it, and this emptiness is amplified by the room’s high ceiling. Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez’s masterpiece, Las Meninas, conveys a message telling of the crumbling political situation and uncertain future of Spain at the ...
... has still not been identified to this day. This sudden attack left the American populace speechless and in utter resentment of the Spanish, and as outrage broke a rallying cry did too, “Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain.” However, Spain at the time was blamed for the explosive occasion and war quickly followed between Spain and America, and the Spanish-American War was fought on Spanish territories such as Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The overpowering and overwhelming military of the United States crushed Spain in all of their fights, causing the war to come to an end in mid July.
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
for revolution. The American Settlers were tired of Mexican dictatorship and wanted the same freedoms they enjoyed back in America. So with a little bit more influence from America a revolt was formed. Eventually Texas would capture Santa Anna the Mexican
The Spanish decided to build a settlement between New Spain and East Texas. It would be a midway stop. They decided it would be located on the San Antonio River. San Jose was one of these settlements. It was made of limestone and was built in 1720. A nickname it had was "The Queen of Missions". Close by was San Antonio de Valero, or also known as the Alamo. It had carvings in the windows and the doorways that were complicated and beautiful. The carvings were made when the limestone was just unearthed. When limestone is just quarried it's relatively soft.
With the sinking of the USS Maine of the coast of Cuba, the United States people got infuriated with the fact that 260 Americans died and the only culprit at the time was a Spanish ship. The press with its yellow journalism spread the news throughout the states, enraging many Americans with their yellow journalism. The New York Journal at the time went as far as saying that “ ” () President McKinley and the members in Congress at the time were forced to declare war on Spain, fearing the negative effects it would have if they let the matter go. With the declaration of war the United States recruited so many men for the army and navy they didn’t know what to do with them, but inevitably our numbers made us prepared for anything Spain had to through at us. Although most of the battles were fought by the navy like Alfred Thayer said “In order to be a great power like Great Britain the U.S. need to control the seas and dominate international commerce.” (Mahan, A. T.) With a greater naval force then Spain the U.S. was able over whelm them and win almost all the battles they fought in. Alfred also said with in his book “The influence of sea power upon history” that the islands that the United States acquired through the means of imperialism also serve as refueling station for our ships during war or transport. Hawaii especially because of its central location in the
Over the following century, both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. In 1559, Spanish Pensacola was established by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano as the first European settlement in the continental United States, but it had become abandoned by 1561 and would not be reinhabited until the 1690s. French Huguenots founded Fort Caroline in modern-day Jacksonville in 1564, but the fort was conquered by forces from the new Spanish colony of St. Augustine the following year. After Huguenot leader Jean Ribault had learned of the new Spanish threat, he launched an expedition to sack the Spanish settlement; en route, however, severe storms at sea waylaid the expedition, which consisted of most of the colony's men, allowing St. Augustine founder Pedro Menéndez de Avilés time to march his men over land and conquer Fort Caroline. Most of the Huguenots were slaughtered, and Menéndez de Avilés marched south and captured the survivors of the wrecked French fleet, ordering all but a few Catholics executed beside a river subsequently called Matanzas (Spanish for 'killings'). The Spanish never had a firm hold on Florida, and maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the local tribes, briefly with Jesuits and later with Franciscan friars. The local leaders (caciques) demonstrated their loyalty to the Spanish by converting to Roman Catholicism and welcoming the Franciscan priests into their villages.