Los Adaes

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Los Adaes was a Spanish settlement during the 18th century that included the Catholic mission San Miguel de los Adaes and the presidio Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Los Adaes (Our Lady of Pilar of the Adaes). Los Adaes was located in what is today Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.

[edit] History

In 1717 two Catholic priests established San Miguel de los Adaes as a mission to the Adaes indians. In 1719, during the War of the Quadruple Alliance, soldiers from the French fort at Natchitoches sybolically captured the mission, allowing the priests to escape back to Mexico.

In 1721 the Spanish returned to Los Adaes with the Aguayo expedition and establish the presidio Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Los Adaes. The Los Adaes presidio served as the capital of Spanish Texas until 1772. In the 1720s Spain reduced funding to its outposts in East Texas and as such after 1735, provincial governors lived in San Antonio, which by then had become the most important city in Texas.

In the mid 18th century the Marqués de Rubí was sent on a survey of the missions and presidios on New Spain's northern border. Rubí recommended that all of the missions except San Antonio and La Bahía be abandoned. In response the Bourbon dynasty issued the Royal Regulation of 1772 ordering the inhabitants to relocate to San Antonio, the new capital. Shortly after the closing of Los Adaes the local Native Americans burned the presidio.

The Adaesans did not adjust well to the area around San Antonio. Therefore, they petition to the Spanish government in Mexico City for permission to return to their former home. The Spanish government allowed them to return to East Texas but not to Los Adaes. In East Texas the Adaesans founded Nacogdoches.

[edit] Present Day

Today the site of Los Adaes is the Los Adaes State Historic Site near the town of Robeline, Louisiana. The Los Adaes site has proven to be one of the most important archaeological sites for the study of colonial Spanish culture.

Many of the descendants of the original Spanish population of Los Adaes live seven mile north of Los Adaes in the Spanish Lake community and in Nacogdoches Texas.