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The City of San Antonio is one of the oldest Spanish colonization of the European settlements in Texas and was, for decades, its largest city. Before Spanish colonization, the site was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. The historic Payaya Indians were likely those who encountered the first Europeans. Development of the Spanish colonial city followed construction of a fort in 1717. A Catholic mission and trading post were also established, and the town developed as the capital of Tejas, a province of colonial Spain. It was the northernmost settlement associated with the Hispanic culture of the Valley of Mexico. After Mexico achieved independence in 1821, Anglo-American settlers entered the region from the United States. In 1849,Anglo-Americans gained control of San Antonio in the fighting that gained independence for the Republic of Texas. In 1845 Texas was annexed by the United States of America, and became a state. ==Early history== After thousands of years of succeeding indigenous cultures, the historic Payaya Indians coalesced as a distinct ethnic group. They lived near the San Antonio River Valley, in the San Pedro Springs area, which they called ''Yanaguana,'' meaning “refreshing waters”. In 1536, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a shipwrecked Spanish explorer who was enslaved by Native Americans for a period, visited the interior of what would later be called Texas. He saw and described the river later to be named the San Antonio.〔(Web site of the San Antonio River Walk ), May 26, 2011.〕 He eventually rejoined Spanish colleagues in Mexico City. From the Convent of Querétaro, organized several expeditions to the region of Texas, an area of great strategic importance to the Spanish crown. With that goal in 1675, an expedition formed by Fray Antonio de Olivares, Fray Francisco Hidalgo, Fray Juan Larios and Fernando del Bosque, were sent to explore and recognize the country beyond the borders of Rio Grande, to test the possibilities of new settlements in the area. In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Native American settlement (located in the area of present-day La Villita) on June 13. As it was the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padova, Italy, they named the place and river ''San Antonio'' in his honor. In 1709, the expedition headed by Pedro de Aguirre, together with Fray Antonio de Olivares y Fray Isidro de Espinosa was undertaken which consisted of exploration of the territory where the present city of San Antonio is located and extended to the Colorado River. The same year he traveled to Spain to convince the authorities to establish and maintain new missions on the bank of the San Antonio River at the present-day city of San Antonio. In 1716, Fray Antonio de Olivares wrote to the Viceroy of New Spain, telling their hopes and plans for the future mission, and urged him to send families of settlers to found a town. In the same letter he stressed that it was necessary for some of these families to be skilled in the useful arts and industries, "to teach the Indians all that should be required to be useful and capable citizens" . Finally, perseverance of Fray Antonio was answered and the Viceroyalty gave formal approval for the mission in late 1716, and assigned responsibility for their establishment to Martín de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila y Tejas.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of San Antonio」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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