The History of Texas in 11 Minutes
Paleo-Indians were the early inhabitants of the territory and by the first AD years, Texas boasted a considerable indigenous population already. By the time the North American continent began to be colonized, there were about 6 main native cultural groups in Texas alone. This meant that the fate of
The early European colonists would depend vastly on how the locals responded to their presence… The first European explorer to map the Texas Gulf Coast was Alonso Alvarez de Pineda in 1519, although it wouldn’t be for nearly another decade until a Spaniard actually journeyed into
The North American interior, and thus, Texas. This next expedition began in 1528 under the lead of Panfilo de Narvaez but quickly turned into an utter disaster. Hurricanes and savage storms battered the expedition and sunk two of the fleet’s ships, killing already a good
Chunk of the initial 600 men. The survivors were still aimed for a landing in modern-day Tampico, Mexico but as luck would have it, they were instead blown off course toward Florida, not far off from today’s Tampa Bay. Now, Narvaez opted to divide his troops into two groups – one on
Land and one still on the ships – to explore the northern coast of Florida. These expeditions were intended to meet up once more at an unspecified harbor, but yet again the plan would fail. There was no harbor where the fleet could dock and the 300 who had traveled by land were under siege
From the local Indigenous tribes, as well as from starvation and disease. These explorers were dying by the masses now and only a few months later, around 90 remained. Conditions were no better than thus far however and when the final group of explorers were swept onto Galveston Island,
They were swiftly abducted by the Natives and more would continue to succumb to disease, starvation, and now the harsh conditions of their new situation. Eight years later, 90 became 4… Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Andres Dorantes de Carranza and his slave Estevanico,
And Alonso del Castillo Maldonado were the only remaining members of Narvaez’s journey. The final survivors attempted on their own to explore what they could of the modern Southwestern portion of the United States and the very top of Mexico, but they would soon join ranks with a group
Of slave catchers they found in Sinaloa in 1536. Finally, the expedition would reach Mexico City, and eventually the few survivors left returned to their Spanish homes. The French, however, were no less interested than Spain. While the Spaniards failed to follow up their early expeditions with the establishment of any real settlements,
The French managed to do it without even intending to… It all started in the late 1600s when a French nobleman by the name of Robert Cavelier de La Salle decided to explore along the Mississippi River with the purpose of finding a way to create a better buffer between France’s North
American territories and those belonging to Spain. Stumbling across the Gulf of Mexico, La Salle would soon claim the whole of the Mississippi River Valley for France. After returning to France, he then attempted to convince the king to set up a settlement at
The mouth of the Mississippi to help fend off the nearby Spaniards in addition to trying to convert more of the Indigenous population to French Christianity. When King Louis The fourt-shirts/” target=”_blank”>teenth finally gave his approval, La Salle was sent back to begin the colony…
Navigational faults would eventually lead La Salle to instead create a settlement further west off the coast of Mexico, but this colony would scarcely survive 3 years before finally succumbing to incursions from the Natives, disease, and other difficulties. The Spanish would soon hear of the French colony nonetheless and decided that they should remove
“this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America” – however, the Karan-kawa and disease had already done so for them. Realizing the collapse of France’s settlement and the possibilities now to found a Spanish one, Alonso De Leon was sent off to first establish
A mission in eastern Texas in 1690. This launched a period of on/off interest in Texas by Spain as clashes with the Natives seemed to continuously dissuade the Spaniards from doing much more. Real efforts appeared to only come in the early 18th century after a Franciscan missionary attempted to
Seek support from the French for establishing new missions in Texas. Spain would almost immediately move to reoccupy the territory and keep the French out, which they did fairly well. At least, they were better at defending themselves from the French than from the local Indigenous.
Though still at odds with various local tribes, in 1762 Spain was finally able to convince the French to relinquish all claims to the Texas territory at the end of the Seven Years’ War. The Mexican War of Independence would secure much of Spain’s former North American colonies as the
New state of Mexico in 1821. Texas, would be part of this infant country and the Mexican government quickly blasted open the door for immigration as they hoped to bring in more settlers to counteract the effects of the angry Natives. But, with the growing population also came growing unrest, and
By 1836, a new Texas government was formed and a declaration of independence from Mexico followed. The new Republic of Texas would host the infamous Battle of the Alamo in short order, a bloody massacre of Texas defenders that lit a passion under many Texans who now were even more
Determined to defeat the Mexicans. The Texas Revolution subsequently would be successful in the end, although, the independence fighters opposing what they saw as the tyrannical rule of Mexico…soon voted in favor of becoming a part of the United States. Ironically, the latter didn’t even want Texas at first. Andrew Jackson and Martin Van
Buren shot down the idea initially but pressure from Great Britain for Texas to remain sovereign frankly pushed the Americans toward annexation. Finally, in 1845, both congresses approved the move and Texas thus became a state of the U.S.A. This, not surprisingly, triggered discord between America and Mexico over territorial
Disputes that would initiate the start of the Mexican-American War. Though, in the end, Mexico would technically receive money in exchange for the full American ownership of Texas as well as other ceded territories, there wasn’t much of an option left by the time the war was over.
Originally, Texas had actually laid claim to these additional ceded territories, which are now part of modern-day Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. But, Texas would eventually relinquish these claims to the federal government with the Compromise of 1850 and barely
Over a decade later, in a drastic turn of events, Texas chose to leave the United States entirely… With the Civil War coming ever closer, a period of panic erupted in Texas, becoming known as the “Texas Troubles”. There had been rumors of enslaved people
Suddenly starting fires throughout the state which led to lynching mobs and a heavier push against the abolitionist beliefs of the union. This would eventually push Texas to hold a vote concerning secession from the United States, which found a whopping 76% of
Texans in favor of leaving. As a result, Texas officially seceded and instead decided to join the Confederate States of America – a drastic change from its prior pleas to be annexed. Throughout the war, Texans who still even loosely supported or wished to be part of
The Union faced severe consequences for their dissension, particularly those of the German and Mexican districts and in Cooke County in particular. In the latter, over 100 union supporters were arrested while over 60 of those were executed. Civil War era Texas was plagued with such massacres of unionists and even after
The Emancipation Proclamation and Junet-shirts/” target=”_blank”>teenth marked the end of the hostilities in one form, it also triggered a new wave of violence and outrage from Confederate veterans. Nevertheless, Texas would officially rejoin the United States of America on March 30, 1870… The following phase of Texas’s history marked a time of difficult reconstruction. Racial divides
Caused the once-90% black Republican Party in Texas to lose power to the white Democrats. This also coincided with a new movement within the Republican Party that aimed to remove the freed slaves from power in the party, with all of this reflecting the overall ongoing
Black vs. white conflict and racial violence throughout the former-Confederate state. These challenges would stretch into the 20th century as Texas struggled to stabilize itself socially within the union. Hurricanes, drought, and the JFK assassination would additionally plague the great state of Texas over the next century, making it a tough ride for Texans still.
Comments (44)
Lol you have the most powerful state in the country and this is how you end the story? Either you ran out of time or you hate Texas.
This video was good at the start but Texas did not have any troubles due to hurricanes, JFK or droughts. Texas is the only state that is self sufficient and could actually become its own country. The entire country moves to Texas due to its economical strength and lower cost of living. The people of Texas are also known for being far better in quality as far as education,size,looks and manners
Hoooowwwdyyy 🤠
https://youtu.be/Rji2M7UJKSE?si=5uw3G7FJNcdMUFYB
hey mf dont blame us for what the govt did…we didnt have shid to do with jfk lmaoo
As a native American, I'm proud to be a native Texan. Texas could be an independent nation, but who would want to be not part of the United States of America?
Im not a historian my mom sent me this to learn texas history
Texas has an 85 mph speed limit. Montana has roads without speed limits.
Few facts are missing. Texas was a Republic an independent nation or a country by itself with its own constitution after the Alamo. While Texas was a separate country slavery or owning a slave in Texas was illegal. Texas was not annex, it join the Confederacy when the Democrats took over Texas. Before and during the civil war almost 60% of Texans Republicans were black and did not want to join the Confederacy but was ignored by the Democrats. Almost 60% of Texas Republican politicians were Blacks or former slaves and were push out by Democrats after Lincoln was shot. The Texas Constitution till the present takes precedence over that of the US Constitution. Thank You Republicans. The Texas Flag is the only flag in the republic that is flown at the same height as the US flag. When Texas join the Union, Texas was not another territory but a country. Texas is also the only state that loans it's surplus money to others states. There are more but this is getting too long.
And why did this vid completely skip 15 yrs (1821-36) of how sentiments changed and how former mexican cabinet member De Zavala (who cowrote the Tx constitution) were key in crafting the new republic. But meh, slavery
There’s a lot of inaccuracy in this video.
Another reason why Texas joined the confederacy was due to red legs people who "on behalf of the union" raided pillaged and attacked many towns in Texas. (Not defending anyone just adding some history)
White washed history, shame shame shame
I live in Texas. I am being forced out by rising property taxes!
Gosh you are so liberal
A lot of the important history of Texas itself was left out… This is basically a video of how it became a state in the US and not about Texas in of itself.
Glory to the Mexican 🇲🇽 heroes of the Alamo, the heroic soldiers who defended the homeland, and the integrity of the Mexican territory, they killed those opportunistic US-American pirates, who balkanized the Mexican province of Texas.
The good guys are actually the Mexican 🇲🇽 soldiers as they defended the integrity of the Mexican national territory, and the bad guys are the illegal US-American 🇺🇲 immigrants as they balkanized the Mexican province of Texas.
WHY TEXAS WAS BALKANIZED
1- The only truth for which the Mexican 🇲🇽 province of Texas was Balkanized, was because the Mexican central government of General Santa Anna declared slavery illegal in Texas.
2- Mexico prohibited the use of slavery in Texas as a form of work, Santa Anna abhorred slavery and the father of the nation of Mexico, Miguel Hidalgo, had abolished it in 1810.
3- The rebels US-Americans, many of them illegal immigrants in Mexican territory, did not like it at all, the Mexican law that eliminated slavery in Texas, quickly rose up in arms and declared Texas independent, US-American immigrants wanted to keep slavery as a legal form of work.
4- General Santa Anna, president of Mexico, did not allow the secession of Texas, since it was a Mexican 🇲🇽 province recognized in the constitution, it had no right to separate.
5- Santa Anna's army was an army poor in resources and weapons, it was not like Hollywood that shows it as a powerful army with the latest technology weapons, in reality the rebels used new weapons financed by Washington and Mexico fought with weapons of the time of its independence.
6- The Mexican soldiers were in his territory, the invaders were the US-Americans.
7- Thus began an armed conflict between both parties that led to the secession of Texas.
8- The Mexicans are the villains of a story badly told by the official historiography.
9- After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Texas was created as a slave state.
10- Before the civil war, many African-American slaves from Texas crossed the Rio Grande to be safe in Mexico from their captors, Mexico protected them with its anti-slavery laws.
That's the truth, why don't they tell it?
la realidad es que los norteamericanos infiltraron su gente ante la escasa población de origen Mexicano, circunstancia que aprovecharon para robar Texas y luego usaron de pretexto para también robar nuevo México y California entre otros.
I hate these AI generated videos… "The infamous Battle of Alamo….? Really? Get a life
REVISIONIST HISTORY
BY WOKE A HOL INVADES YOUTUBE!
I laugh when Americans that aren't from Tejas Say in a racist way, REMEMBER THE ALAMO! That's like ppl from poland 🇵🇱 yelling, REMEMBER THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES!!😂
🇲🇽😲🤝🇨🇱😊😊
Texas will always be Mexican in my heart
You forgot to mention the battle that started it all. Before the Alamo, before San Jacinto was the Battle of Nacogdoches.
In a nutshell, Mexican military said to a small town of whites and natives and blacks to disarm.
…they got shot!
They ran south of Nacogdoches and were shot again!
The end.
Many Mexicans died to free Texas only to be stabbed in the back by the racist whites.
Many act of genocide against small farms thru out Texas.
Decent overview of Texas history. As anyone would expect there is so much more history and nuance that there is not enough time to get to. The only thing I wish you changed was the position of the hurricane, JFK and drought photos. The drought photo should be on the left as that is the arid desert part of Texas. The JFK photo should be on top since you literally have the zoom box pointed at the Dallas area. Finally the hurricane photo should be on bottom since that is the closest to the coast.
I love how our support of annexing Texas was based solely on not wanting to agree with Britain.
This video absolutely demolishes that you can NOT tell the history of Texas in 11 minutes.
30 seconds dedicated to 1836 – 1845? C'moooon
Texas a `tough ride` for Texans ? Since I travelled the Lone Star state in the early 1990s: I think not.
You forgot the sixth flag 🙁
Todo son territorios ocupados del imperio español y los yankees además hicieron la ley Monroe para ir contra la dueña del continente español, y se repartieron los territorios ocupados del imperio español con sus socios de piraterías y rapiñas, a los mejicanos no le robaron nada todo es del imperio español, España no reconoce ninguna independencia
proud to be Texan
Hi from France. Your content is amazing and very interesting. At 6:00, there is a little mistake, it is the treaty of Fontainebleau 🙂
This video is horrible as a Texan. Also, that wasn’t Galveston. That was Corpus Christi. 🤦🏻♂️
I was born in California lived their till 18 and now live in Utah for 14 and a half years and i hope to one day move to the great state of Texas
Russia is also in Europe and a lot bigger than Texas.
The great state of Texas 🤘🏽
Modern Mexicans: " this was our land! You stole it from us, you Europeans! This was native land!" Uhhhh, you guys invaded native lands first, killed natives first, forced your ideas upon natives first. LOL
I always call myself a Texan before an American. My great great grandfather took arms against the dictator Santa Ana and enlisted in the Texian army. God bless Texas.
Texas is not great
You didn't mention the Houston Rockets back to back championships 1994 and 1995.
Texas would have been better off staying a independent country of their own than becoming a part of the USA. Shalom