The Hidden History of Texas

The Spanish Build Missions In this episode I want to talk about the missions that the Spanish established when they colonized Texas. I’ll talk about the reasons for the missions, how many were established, and some of the good and the bad that took place in and around the missions. Spanish explorers operated under the philosophy of the three G’s, God, Gold, and Glory, the Spanish missions in Texas are a direct result of that philosophy. How did that come about? When Spain began to colonize the Americas, it was a Roman Catholic nation. That meant that while ther...

The Hidden History of Texas Looking for Gold and Glory – Before I get too far into it today, how about subscribing to the podcast. Tell your friends that you’ve found the coolest place on the net to learn about Texas history. Well maybe not the coolest, but a pretty cool place, thanks I’d appreciate it. As I’ve discussed in the past, the Spanish presence in the Americas was pretty much an accident. Until Columbus bumped into the islands of Guanahani (Watling Island in the Bahamas) which Columbus named "San Salvador", Cuba, and Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominica...

Welcome to Episode 67 of the Hidden History of Texas – I’ve been discussing the 1st peoples of Texas, those who were here when the Spanish arrived and today, I’m going to discuss The Comanche, Kiowas, Tonkawas.Remember how I discussed some of the differences between the Hunter-gathers tribes (mostly nomadic lifestyle) and the farming tribes (mostly stationary lifestyle). I brought up some of the religious beliefs and how the majority of tribes embraced the idea of a supreme being or multiple gods, and they had creation stories. For agricultural tribes, various ceremonies accompanied the planting and harvesting of crops. Hunter...

This is a more in-depth look at the First Peoples of Texas. Why” because there were people here long before the Spanish and any other Europeans set foot on the land, First, allow me to try and clear up some terminology especially one word and that word is “Indians”.  The people Columbus encountered when he first reached the shores of the continent where misnamed, because Columbus thought he had reached India and as we know, he was wrong.  That’s all I’m going to say about the subject. The inhabitants themselves did not refer to themselves in any specific way, other th...

Previously I talked about the world in the 14 and1500s and how the early Spanish explorers while looking for a path to India bumped into Texas, and a little bit about the Native peoples they encountered.  Today, I will further explore some of the trials and Tribulations of The Early Spanish Explorers of Texas.  I’ll also touch on the geography of Texas because that plays a major role in how Texas was explored, and it affected the lives of those who lived here.  There is an old Texas saying, “the sun has rose, the sun has set, and I ain’t o...

(Partial Transcript) Episode 64 -Texas isn’t Texas, Mexico isn’t Mexico and Europeans go exploring and bump into a continent and are surprised to find people already there. When Europeans first encountered Texas, the world was a very different place. Well, maybe not too different because countries were fighting over land, gold, religion, natural resources, and political power much like we do today.  However, it was still different; there were no cars, planes, trains, buses, electricity, fast food joints, and certainly no TV, Radio, and Internet. Moreover, without modern technology, it took a whole lot more courage to go exploring than...

This is Episode 63 – They were known as the “black Codes” . Remember now in the decade that followed the Civil War, Texas was in as much confusion and chaos as it had ever seen in its short history as a state. Not only were Texans faced with political, social, and economic issues that had been caused by the war but the issues that had caused the war in the first place were still around. It is true, that emancipation freed the slaves and that act actually dramatically altered the labor system that many of the wealthy landowners and economic power brokers had co...

The Hidden History of Texas. Episode 62 – The civil war has ended part 1. We are wrapping up talking about the history of Texas during the Civil war. As I’ve mentioned in earlier episodes there isn’t an exact count of how many battles and skirmishes were fought in Texas. Most of the Texans who fought for either the confederacy or the union took part in battles in Tennessee, Virginia, or elsewhere in the South.  Today I want to talk about Texas after the civil war, and folks it’s not a pretty picture. The Civil War is generally thought to have ende...

This is Episode 61 – Battle of Galveston, the battle of the Sabine Pass, and the battle of Palmito Ranch - I’m your host and guide Hank Wilson We are wrapping up talking about the history of Texas during the Civil war. As I’ve mentioned in earlier episodes there isn’t an exact count of how many battles and skirmishes were fought in Texas. Most of the Texans who fought for either the confederacy or the union took part in battles in Tennessee, Virginia, or elsewhere in the South. There were however four notable battles that did take place in Texas, w...

Episode 60 – –The Civil War and Texas – The Battle of Glorieta I’m your host and guide Hank Wilson and as always, the broadcast is brought to you by Ashby Navis and Tennyson Media Publishers, Visit AshbyNavis.com for more information. We are smack dab in the middle of telling about the history of Texas during the Civil war. There’s no exact count of how many battles and skirmishes that were fought in Texas. In fact, most of the Texans who fought for either the confederacy or the union took part in battles in Tennessee, Virginia, or elsewhere in the South. The...