Texas and Northeastern Mexico,1630-1690 [Hardcover]

Juan Bautista Chapa (Editor), Ned F. Brierley (Translator), William C. Foster (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

In the seventeenth century, South Texas and Northeastern Mexico formed El Nuevo Reino de Leon, a frontier province of New Spain. In 1690, Juan Bautista Chapa penned a richly detailed history of Nuevo Leon for the years 1630 to 1690. Although his Historia de Nuevo Leon was not published until 1909, it has since been acclaimed as the key contemporary document for any historical study of Spanish colonial Texas.

This book offers the only accurate and annotated English translation of Chapa's Historia. In addition to the translation, William C. Foster also summarizes the Discourses of Alonso de Leon (the elder), which cover the years 1580 to 1649. In the appendix, Foster includes a translation of Alonso (the younger) de Leon's previously unpublished revised diary of the 1690 expedition to East Texas and an alphabetical listing of over 80 Indian tribes identified in this book.

Chapa was also an authority on the local Indians, and his Historia lists the names and locations of over 300 Indian tribes. This information, together with descriptions of the vegetation, wildlife, and climate in seventeenth-century Texas, make this book essential reading for ethnographers, anthropologists, and biogeographers, as well as students and scholars of Spanish borderlands history.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1st edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292711883
• ISBN-13: 978-0292711884
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #750,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Journey, June 5, 2003

By 

tejasjj "tejasjj" (Friendswood, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas and Northeastern Mexico,1630-1690 (Hardcover)

"Compadre, I entreat you to do me the favor of taking my son, Antonio, among your troops, that when he is old he may have a tale to tell." This was a request of a certain Escobedo asking Alonso (the younger) de León to allow his son to join the anticipated entrada into Texas in 1689. Although the expedition was intended as a punative military campaign against the French incursion into Spanish domains, the elder Escobedo sensed its historic nature and wished his son to participate in it. Escobedo was right, for this expedition had historic consequences. The 1689 entrada not only opened up a gateway into Texas, but left its mark by giving landmarks and rivers names that are still in use today, and allowed the establishment of missions, presidios and settlements that firmly secured Texas as a Spanish dominion.

Juan Bautista Chapa, native of Albisola, near Genoa, participated in this entrada and chronicled it among other events in his Historia del Reino de León which traces the history and colonization of northeastern Mexico and Texas in rich detail for the period between 1650-1690. Chapa intended his history to be a follow-on to Alonso (the elder) de León's Discourses which detailed the history of this region prior to 1650. Chapa's Historia demonstrates the author's literary acumen through a mournful poem written as a memorial to the dead French encountered in 1689 at La Salle's settlement. This history has become the key contemporary work from which any historical study of this region must begin.

This volume is the first widely accessible and accurate English translation of Chapa's Historia. Elegantly translated by Ned F. Brierley and annotated by William C. Foster, who is becoming known for his welcomed efforts in bringing to the English-speaking world the chronicles of other Spanish expeditions into Texas, this book is a valuable addition to the historiography of colonial Mexico and Texas. Foster provides a cogent and insightful introduction in which he details the history of Chapa's manuscript and an analysis of the history and puts it in context with De León's Discourses. Foster has added De León's previously unpublished revised diary of his 1690 expedition into Texas as well as a listing of the 80 Indian tribes identified in this book. This book is essential reading for all students and scholars of Mexico's far north frontier and Texas. Additionally, the descriptions of the Indians, vegetation, wildlife, and climate in seventeenth-century Texas, will be of interest to ethnographers, anthropologists, and biogeographers. Genealogists of northeastern Mexico and south Texas will also benefit because the book contains some muster listing of the expeditioners-whose many descendants presently carry their names throughout the region and beyond. So names in genealogical trees and pedigrees get fleshed-out and placed in historical context.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, February 18, 2011

By 

Cesar D. Hinojosa (Mcallen, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas and Northeastern Mexico,1630-1690 (Paperback)

For anyone interested on Northeast Mexico and Texas history, this book is a must read!! Great explanation of how things were on those days.