San Antonio grew from Payaya springs to a UNESCO mission row
San Antonio, Texas—about 1.43 million people—ranks seventh in the United States and second in Texas after Houston. Named for Saint Anthony in 1691, it gained a 1718 mission-presidio and became Texas's first chartered civil settlement in 1731.
When the Spanish expedition arrived on 13 June 1691, the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, the Payaya living by San Pedro Springs called the area Yanaguana, refreshing waters. Settlement waited until Father Antonio de Olivares, who visited in 1709, pressed for a mission. The viceroy approved a combined mission and fort in late 1716, hoping to block French expansion from Louisiana and stop illicit trade with the Payaya, but quarrels between Olivares and Governor Martín de Alarcón delayed building until 1718.
That spring Mission San Antonio de Valero, later the Alamo, passed to Olivares on 1 May, and on 5 May the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar was set up west of the river. In 1719 the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo proposed shipping 400 families from the Canary Islands to populate Texas. Far fewer came: led by Juan Leal Goraz, 15 families, 56 people in all after marriages en route, marched overland from Veracruz and reached the presidio on 9 March 1731, founding San Fernando de Béxar, the first regular civil government in Texas.
The town became the largest in Spanish Texas and capital of the province. After Santa Anna scrapped the 1824 constitution, Texian forces under Ben Milam took the town from General Martín Perfecto de Cos in December 1835. Santa Anna returned, and the Battle of the Alamo, fought from 23 February to 6 March 1836 with William Travis and James Bowie in command, ended with every defender dead, giving the Texian army its rallying cry.
Juan Seguín, who raised a Tejano company for independence and later served as mayor, was driven from office by threats in 1842, and no Tejano held the post again for nearly 150 years. Today the city draws about 32 million visitors a year and hosts major military bases, including Fort Sam Houston.
Source: San Antonio
