Juan Bautista Chapa - Texas and Northeastern Mexico, 1630–1690

Texas & Northeastern Mexico, 1630 1690

by Juan Bautista Chapa

Edited with an introduction

by William C. Foster

Translated by Ned F. Brierley

Translation of Historia del nuevo reino de Len de 1650 a 1690

Copyright 1997 by William C. Foster
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 1997

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work
should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819,
Austin, TX 78713-7819,

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chapa, Juan Bautista, 1630 or 31 1695.
[Historia del Nuevo Reino de Leon de 1650 a 1690, English]
Texas and northeastern Mexico, 16301690 / by Juan Bautista,
Chapa ; edited with an introduction by William C, Foster ; translated
by Ned F. Brierley.1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-292-71795-4
1. Nuevo Leon (Mexico : State)History. 2. TexasHistory

To 1846. 3. MexicoHistorySpanish colony, 15401810.
4. Indians of MexicoMexicoNuevo Leon (State)History.
I. Foster, William. C, 1928. II. Title.
F1316.c4613 1997
972.13dc 20 96-25202

To my grandchildren:

William Chandler
Kalle Marie
Annika Kirsten
Jenner Lindh

by Juan Bautista Chapa

MAPS

FIGURES

IN compiling source materials for Spanish Expeditions into Texas, 16891768, I recognized that a number of significant Spanish and French diaries and journals, which seemed to me critical to an appreciation of Texas history, had not been translated into English. Within the past three years, Jack Jackson and I, as coeditors and collaborators, have worked to have translatedwith comprehensive introductions, full annotations, and detailed route mapsthe diaries of Governor Gregorio de Salinas Varonas 1693 expedition, Brigadier Pedro de Riveras 1727 inspection tour, and the Marqus de Rubs 1767 expedition, which followed the Camino Real from San Antonio across Texas to the Spanish capital of the Province of Texas in present-day Louisiana. This bookthe translation and annotation of two additional seventeenth-century Spanish classics that have been cited repeatedly by American and Mexican scholars as among the most authoritative documents of the Spanish colonial period in Texasis an extension of that effort.

The first and more significant work is Juan Bautista Chapas Historia del Nuevo Reino de Len, a history of Texas and northeastern Mexico covering the period 1630 to 1690. This narrative covers the history of Texas from the establishment of Luis de Carvajals kingdom (1579), which included northeastern Mexico and most of Texas south and west of Austin. The second work is Governor Alonso de Lens previously unpublished revised diary of the 1690 expedition from Monclova to East Texas. Manuscript copies of these two works are held in the Beinecke Library of Yale University, which graciously made copies available for this study.

Chapas Historia, supplemented by Captain Alonso de Lens (the elders) Discourses, records the earliest colonization of Nuevo Len, a geographically identified Spanish kingdom or province that included all or part of approximately forty present-day South and West Texas counties. Areas north of the lower Rio Grande were explored, and mining and slaving settlements were established from present-day Monterrey north to the lower Rio Grande in the 1580s, decades before Jamestown was founded in Virginia (1607) and the Pilgrims landed in New England (1620). There is no comparable systematic history for other areas in northern New Spain written in the seventeenth century by a contemporary senior official.

This work required the careful translation of the two seventeenth-century Spanish documents, one of which is found only in manuscript form. These translations were skillfully accomplished by Ned F. Brierley, who specializes in translating Spanish colonial documents and who assisted in the translations of the diaries of Governor Salinas Varona, Brigadier Rivera, and the Marqus de Rub. Adela Pacheco Cobb of Washington, D.C., again provided valuable assistance as a translator and editor. The maps were prepared by John V. Cotter, a highly regarded cartographer who was responsible for the excellent maps in Spanish Expeditions into Texas, 16891768. Jack Jackson served again not only as the principal scout and guide but also as the expedition sketch artist and skillfully depicted scenes and personalities with exacting detail and an artistry that brings the reader and viewer directly into the story. Christina Jackson (who served as redactora annima for our earlier works) provided the critical review that a manuscript requires in draft form. The principal academic review of the work was performed admirably by historian and professor emeritus Oakah L. Jones, whose numerous comments helped us remain on track and avoid deep potholes. Despite this outside aid, the study required the highly professional touch and driving enthusiasm of the University of Texas Presss assistant director, Theresa J, May.

Those of us who have toiled on the project may, I believe, now rest with some assurance that significant parts of the rich historical record compiled by Alonso de Len (the elder), Juan Bautista Chapa, and Alonso de Len (the younger) will be available to a broader contemporary reading public, as the authors would have wished.

W.C.F.

THREE hundred years ago, an anonymous author living quietly and alone near Monterrey, Mexico, completed a rich and detailed history of present-day Texas and Nuevo Len covering the years 1630 to 1690. The manuscript, which describes not only the Spanish leaders of the period but also the native population and natural environment of northeastern Mexico and Texas, went unpublished for over two hundred years, and it was not until 1961 that the authors identity was revealed. That author was Juan Bautista Chapa, a man who was fearful of the Spanish Inquisition, but whose experience during the period as secretary to several governors of Nuevo Len gave him the ability and the knowledge necessary to write such an insightful account. He was a close companion of Captain Alonso de Len (the elder), whom he accompanied on numerous military actions against Indian tribes near Monterrey and the lower Rio Grande, and he served under Governor Alonso de Len (the younger) on the 1686 and 1689 expeditions in search of the French settlement at present-day Matagorda Bay on the Central Texas coast. No comparable history was ever written by a resident Spanish official about other parts of northern New Spain.

This book is the first annotated English rendition of both Chapas Historia and Governor Alonso de Lens revised 1690 expedition diary. Scholars of the Spanish colonial period and the general public interested in Texas history will find the translations clear and easy to read and will have the opportunity to enjoy a seventeenth-century Spanish classic, the earliest systematic history of Texas.

This introduction will track the publication of Chapas work and unfold the mystery of authorship, A full review of each of Captain Alonso de Lens