San Antonio Missions

San Antonio is chock full of missions.  Well, actually five different missions.  The Alamo is the first one built.  Obviously, it's more famous for the battle than the fact it was a mission.  The second was the San Jose Mission that we visited last week.  Today we visited the other three.  In most cases, they are less preserved than the San Jose Mission, but there is more original coloring.  Plus, they are all being restored in some way or another.

Spain claimed Mexico along with a major portion of the southwest.  After realizing there was no city of gold, they began converting the natives to the Catholic faith and teaching them Spanish culture and technology (mills, masonry, looms, etc.) to make them Spanish citizens.  The missions were used to accomplish this.  Each of them had a church, a convent, and rooms for the natives.  Classes were held for the children and farms and ranches were outside the walls.   They set up an amazing system to irrigate the fields.

The missions are great to see.  It's hard to imagine what life was like before the Spanish came.  The Spanish conquistadors brought European diseases like measles and mumps that killed a majority of the natives.  Texas was full of grasslands.  Overgrazing by domesticated animals along with a change in burn techniques changed the landscape to scrub bushes and cactus.

Change is good?