Texas has had six flags of six different countries throughout its history. Why?

TO start with, you need a bit of background history:

While today we think of the United States as the whole center of North America from coast to coast, it wasn’t always that way. After the Revolutionary War in 1777, the United States became an independent country. But look at the map: The United States didn’t look anything like the country we have today. It was just a small section that ended at the Mississippi River. Past that was the Louisiana Territory, which belonged to the French, and the section that belonged to Spain. And while Americans live in America, Spanish people who moved to Spanish Territory were known as Mexicans. Scattered throughout were the Natives, Native Americans who lived in the Americas before the Europeans ever got there. And now for those flags:

1. The Spanish Flag

Okay, so the first people in Texas were probably the Native Americans. But because they didn’t have a flag to fly over the state, we’re going to move on to the next nation that resided in the state. Remember Christopher Columbus? Well, after he explored America, in the 1500s and 1600s other Spaniards, called conquistadors, traveled over the ocean, eventually arriving in America. They killed thousands of Native Americans (80 percent!). Then, they set down their Spanish flag and declared Spain the ruler of the land.

While Spain ruled, there were actually four different Spanish flags that flew over Texas — yikes, that’s confusing! But they are all lumped together into one flag.

2. French Rule: 1685–1690

In the 1600s, the Louisiana Territory, the middle part of the United States, was under the rule of the French. As you would expect, the French wanted more land — no one is ever satisfied with what they have, after all. So the French sent Robert Cavelier off to the Americas to find the mouth of the Mississippi River and build a colony there. He set off with four ships and between 300 and 400 people — a very large group.

Unfortunately for them, things didn’t work out as they expected. First they were attacked in the West Indies by scary, murderous pirates who managed to make off with one of the ships. The expedition was now down to three vessels. Then, another ship sank in the Matagorda Bay. Fortunately, the rest of the group managed to make it to land. Somewhere along the way, the third ship disappeared. The colonists settled and created a French colony in an area of what is today… you guessed it, Texas.

They were still bent on finding the mouth of the Mississippi River, however. When the last of their four ships got stuck in the mud, the group set off on foot. But it’s never a good idea to explore wild, dangerous, uncharted territory on foot. That’s even worse than going off-trail on a hike. And there was no Chaveirim to send out a search party either. Robert Cavelier was lost in the marshes of the river for two years! After that he was killed by the Natives of the area. The French colony he founded didn’t last much longer either as they, too, were killed by the Natives. And that was the end of the French flag over Texas.