USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Through missions, presidios, and an adjoining civilian community (a villa), missionaries and soldiers Christianized and Hispanicized the native population. The Spanish hoped that with the help of these now-loyal Indians a relatively small number of men would be needed to defend the empire’s frontier.

Detailed explanation-2: -To protect the missions from attack, the Spanish built presidios, or military bases, near the missions. Soldiers in these forts were generally responsible for protecting several missions. Many soldiers brought their families with them to presidios, which later became centers of settlement in Texas.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Spanish Missions in Texas comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans to spread the Catholic doctrine among area Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier land.

Detailed explanation-4: -A presidio protected a mission. Presidios were forts that offered safety from unfriendly American Indians. They also helped control the American Indians in the missions. Soldiers from the presidio caught American Indians who ran away from the mission.

Detailed explanation-5: -Spanish missions were explicitly established for the purpose of religious conversion and instruction in the Catholic faith. However, the mission system actually served as the primary means of integrating Indians into the political and economic structure of Florida’s colonial system.