Austin, TX
From the Statesman archives: Newcomers did not control Indigenous Texas for centuries
In this “From the Archives” series — subtitled in jest “20,000 Years of Austin History in 20 Minutes” — we’ve introduced the concept for the series, and devoted one column to the arrival of humans in the Austin area.
This, the third column, looks at the arrival of Europeans and Africans 500 years ago.
As previously noted, Spaniard Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and an Arabic-speaking African named Esteban de Dorantes (Estevanico) were among 80 men shipwrecked on the Texas Gulf Coast. They were among the four survivors of those parties who spent the next years exploring the interior.
Cabeza de Vaca wrote about this initial incursion in his fascinating report, published as “La Relacion.” For their part, the Spanish claimed what is now Texas until Mexican independence in 1821.
Claiming, however, is not controlling.
When you look at a traditional map of North America during the 1600s, for instance, you see wide stretches of the northern and central regions as held by France.
Meanwhile, the English laid claim to much of the Eastern Seaboard; and the Dutch West India Company on the region around New Amsterdam, later renamed New York City, as well as land from Maryland to Connecticut and the Hudson Valley (at least from 1614 to 1664).
The Spanish planted their flags in Florida, Texas and the Southwest, especially the relatively populated area around Santa Fe, N.M.
By 1732, the Russian Empire had joined the imperial scramble, laying claim to the Pacific Coast territories of North America.
Yet as historian Pekka Hämäläinen argues in his magnificent book, “Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America,” the Europeans generally controlled only slivers of land around forts and settlements. Yes, they operated ports, mines, farms and trading posts, but it took hundreds of years to wrest the North America from the Native Americans.
Texas is a particular case in point.
While maps might have indicated that New Spain included much of what is now Texas, the Spanish, in fact, rarely controlled territory beyond a few scattered presidios, missions and villages. The exceptions might be found in the brushy South Texans land around San Antonio and La Bahía, where Tejanos operated productive ranches.
Similar things could be said about the French, who for a long while considered the entire Mississippi River watershed, which includes the Red River and Texas its tributaries, theirs. This claim sometimes included disputed territory as far south as Matagorda Bay.
These insubstantial claims did not improve much after the European powers departed. During the early 19th century, neither the Mexican central government, nor the American immigrants, who began arriving in numbers during the 1820s, controlled more than a few patches on the map.
It was not until the Red River War (1874-1875) that the United States — and its still relatively new state of Texas — controlled all of the state’s territory. That was after more than 50 years of almost constant conflict with Native Americans, who were either removed or nearly exterminated in the process.
What about Austin, you say? In 1730, the Spanish temporarily transplanted three East Texas missions to somewhere along the Colorado River in the Austin area. Those were moved to better fortified positions in San Antonio a few months later. Archeologists have unearthed no physical evidence of those incompletely documented missions.
Which means the Spanish presence in Texas, which lasted intermittently from the 1520s to the 1820s, made little direct impact on the area around Austin.
It was Indigenous land.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Trevor Goosby is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming 2027 NFL Draft. The Texas offensive lineman anchors the group up front for one of the best teams in the country and was named a preseason All-American by Walter Camp.
But his football career felt in jeopardy when he was in high school.
“That was kind of my biggest question,” said Goosby. “I was really nervous because would I be the same football player coming back?”
Goosby was born with a congenital heart defect and had open-heart surgery when he was just 16 years old. He wasn’t sure how this would change his everyday life, including his football career.
“Definitely a lot of nerves just because you’re getting your ribs cracked open essentially and getting your heart worked on…It was a scary moment. I remember driving up to the hospital super nervous.”
Goosby was able to recover and become a great football player. He said not only has he become a person in learning to fight through adversity, but it helped him as a player as well with improved endurance.
Now, the star Longhorn is giving back as much as possible.
Goosby hosted a camp in Austin to benefit the Children’s Heart Foundation. The organization works to fund research on congenital heart defects.
The offensive tackle is matching all donations up to $20,000 made to the Children’s Heart Foundation through the event and campaign.
“It means a lot to me just because of the heart condition I did have back when I was 16. That just kind of changed my life. I just want to bring awareness to that.”
The camp was at Hyde Park High School in Northwest Austin. Goosby spoke about what he hopes the young campers took away from the event.
“I think it’s just more than football. Football is a big part of what I do but it’s not who I am…I just want to show all these kids that I’m just another great guy and just someone they can look up to.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is getting its first major new national stock exchange in decades, and finance experts say it could create new opportunities for Austin’s tech companies and startups looking to grow.
The Texas Stock Exchange is launching this week in Dallas, with live trading expected to begin as early as Friday. The exchange began operations Monday, and it says all publicly traded stocks should be available on the platform by the end of the month. Thousands of publicly traded stocks are expected to be available by then.
Ray Perryman, President and CEO of the Perryman Group, said the launch signals Texas’ growing influence in the financial sector.
“It really lets the world know that Texas is indeed a major player in this industry,” Perryman said.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the exchange another sign of Texas’ expanding economic reach, saying, “This is another step that expands the financial might of Texas in the United States, and cements our economic power on the global stage.”
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Perryman said the exchange could provide another path for companies to go public and could help attract more growing companies to Austin and the rest of the state. He said the added access to capital could have ripple effects across the economy.
“It increases opportunities for firms in the area to expand, have access to capital, to be more profitable. That means they hire more people. That means they pay more taxes. That means they buy more things in their supply chains,” Perryman said.
Texas ranks second in the U.S. for Fortune 500 headquarters, behind California and ahead of New York. With the Texas Stock Exchange set to launch, experts say Austin’s startup community could see even more growth.
Perryman said Austin-area tech firms could benefit from having an in-state exchange option.
“They’ll now have a vehicle here in Texas that will be more efficient and less expensive to register on than the traditional exchanges,” Perryman said.
Perryman said the exchange’s success will depend on how many companies choose to list on it, how much investment it attracts, and how many additional companies decide to move to Texas.
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