Abstract
The Franciscan Archive of the National Library is a document reservoir useful in the study of northern New Spain’s history. The Relación geográfica e histórica de la provincia de Texas o Nuevas Filipinas: 1763-1779 by friar Juan Agustín Morfi is a manuscript which narrates, rigorously and passionately, the geography, climate and fertility of the province as well as the natives that inhabited it. The historical section analyses the first Spanish incursions in the land, motivated by foreign threats, and the formal occupation of Texas; it describes the problems generated by the establishment of prisons and Franciscan missions, and at the same time tells about the troops’ negative behavior, the natives’ violent reaction and the work of missionaries in order to accomplish their pacification and evangelization.