The first permanent settlement of Europeans in Texas was the mission of Corpus Christi de la Ysleta, founded near El Paso by friars in 1682. To ward off French settlements, Spain looked to secure East Texas. In 1689 an expedition met a large group of Hasinai people, whom the Spaniards called the Tejas, a word meaning "friend." Father Damián Massanet dedicated the first Spanish mission in East Texas in 1690, naming it San Francisco de los Tejas. The Tejas would eventually reject the Catholic religion and the Spaniards' attempts to change the way they lived, and the mission failed. However, over the next several decades, Spain would continue to build missions, military outposts called presidios, and towns in East Texas.

San Antonio and Los Adaes In the spring of 1718, an expedition constructed a fort-town, Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, on one side of the San Antonio River. Across the river, Father Olivares founded Mission San Antonio de Valero, and its mission chapel is now known as the Alamo. Today this area is the city of San Antonio.

After war broke out between France and Spain in 1719, the Spanish set up a large presidio in Louisiana. This presidio, Los Adaes, became the capital of Texas for almost 50 years. San Antonio, Goliad, Los Adaes, and Nacogdoches were the most important civilian settlements in Spanish Texas. By 1772 San Antonio was the largest settlement and served as the capital.

Spanish friars, eager to spread the Catholic religion and Spanish culture among the Plains people, established missions in central and western Texas, too. Many of these missions failed, however, because of their isolation and raids by Apaches and Comanches.

Life in the Missions Spanish missions were busy centers of activity. The Native Americans who accepted mission life were kept busy from dawn to dusk. Most, however, refused to stay at the missions because they were not accustomed to settled life. Soldiers faced hardships protecting the missions and nearby settlements. Most soldiers were also settlers who brought their families to the military towns and farmed for a living. The population of the region increased and included Anglos, Spaniards, mestizos, and African Americans. By the end of the 1700s, a Tejano character was taking shape in Texas.