American Speech · 1974 · 22 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesGeographyHistoryHistorical GeographyHistorical LinguisticsImmigration StudiesChicano MigrationIndigenous MigrationMexican American HistoryMexican American StudiesMigration HistoryAtlantic HistoryEthnic Geographies Of MigrationMexican American MigrationMexican Migration To The United StatesNorthern MigrationNorthward MigrationSouthern MigrationTexas Mexican American History
N THE EARLY DECADES of the nineteenth century, the English language was introduced into the region that is now the state of Texas. Small numbers of Anglo-American colonists from the eastern states and the Old Northwest entered what was at that time the northern part of the Mexican state of Coahuila. The Anglo-Americans' struggle for independence and their subsequent attainment of it accelerated the migration. Herdsmen, farmers, tradesmen, and adventurers, often accompanied by families and slaves, began in ever greater numbers to populate the forests and plains of eastern and northern Texas. While there were representatives from most states and many foreign countries in the flood of pioneers reaching Texas during the years of independence and early statehood, the immigrants were by and large of Southern provenance. In a recent study, an historical geographer has traced the migration along three major courses, each of which issued from the Middle Atlantic states: