| Summary: | Land ownership is central to the history of Texas, and the land grants awarded by Spain and Mexico within its present boundaries are intrinsic to the story. Texas today includes parts of the Spanish provinces of Nuevo Santander, Nueva Vizcaya, and Tejas and the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, and Coahuila-Texas. Land grants there were awarded only upon meeting the formal procedures, qualifications, and conditions established by Spain and Mexico. Population in exchange for land was the approach adopted by these two nations to expand their presence in Texas and adjoining areas. Population was the objective; colonization the strategy; and land the incentive. Colonization was a two-part process involving, first, the relocation of colonists from their place of origin to the new territory and, second, the placement of colonists on the land in conditions that would enable them to become productive citizens. The colonization effort featured the use of private recruiting agents - empresarios - to assist with the first task. Government agents - land commissioners - oversaw the second objective. Title to some twenty-six million acres of Texas land, about one-seventh of its present area, derives from the land grants made by Spain and Mexico to its settlers. A land commissioner played a part in nearly every case.
|
|---|