he area that is today San Antonio was originally inhabited by Coahuiltecan Indians who called their village Yanaguana. Local springs and the river created a fertile valley where deer, wild fruits, and nuts were plentiful.

In the early 1600s, Spanish soldiers of fortune and missionaries trekked across Texas to claim more territory for church and king. Yanaguana was a frequent resting spot on El camino real (the King's Highway) and was christened San Antonio on June 13, 1691, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua. The first permanent Spanish settlers, soldiers and Franciscan missionaries, arrived in 1718. Mission San Antonio de Valero (later renamed the Alamo) was built and became home to Indian converts. Four other missions followed: San José, Concepción, Espada, and San Juan Capistrano. The missions operated for more than half a century before being secularized.

In 1731 fifteen families from the Canary Islands were promised land and honors by the King of Spain in return for starting a civil settlement in San Antonio. They set up their own town, the Villa of San Fernando, and built the first parish church in Texas, which became the San Fernando Cathedral. Many San Antonio families trace their ancestry to these islanders.

In the early 1800s, San Antonio citizens played supportive roles in Mexico's fight for independence from Spain. Cinco de Mayo (May 5) and Dieciseis (September 16), Mexican holidays celebrating independence, are still observed in San Antonio.

Today more than half of San Antonio's population is Hispanic, predominantly of Mexican heritage, but also representing Central and South America and the Caribbean. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art celebrates this vital and continuing heritage.