Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1992
Abstract
Throughout the entire colonial period of Texas, except for brief periods of gallant exploration and practical reconnaissance, Spanish pioneers carefully avoided the Plains of West Texas as a potential area of permanent settlement. Essentially because of the absence of dependable water resources, an all-important consideration prescribed in the Recopilacion de las Leyes de las Indias for the selection of occupation sites, Hispanics generally regarded the West Texas Plains with respectful awe and fearful apprehension. Spanish law prohibited settlers, notwithstanding personal initiative and the availability of land in great abundance, from occupying a region that lacked reliable sources of fresh water. 1
Comments
Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 12:3 (Summer 1992). Copyright © 1992 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.