User:Jmjosh90/sandbox/Archives/2022/March

Map Contributions
These maps were made for the article by Jmjosh90 (talk) 22:55, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Pre-Spanish Colonization
Native peoples lived in small tribes in the area before the Spanish conquisition. The native tribes in South Texas were known to be hunter-gatherer peoples. The area was known for its smaller nomadic tribes collectively called Coahuiltecan. Native archeological excavations near Brownsville have shown evidence of prehistoric shell trading.

Spanish Colonization
Initially the Spanish had a hard time conquering the area due to the differences in native languages so they mainly focused on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico also known as the Seno Mexicano. There was also a major conflict on who would be the one to conquer the region. Antonio Ladrón de Guevara wanted to colonize the region but the Viceroy of New Spain José Tienda de Cuervo doubted Ladrón de Guevara's character eventually leading to a royal Spanish declaration preventing Ladrón de Guevara from participating in colonization efforts.

The first Villas in the region were settled in Laredo and Reynosa in 1767. In 1805 the Spanish government solidified the autonomy of the region by defining the territory of Nuevo Santander as south of the colony of Tejas from the Nueces River south to Tampico, Charcas, and Valles. The local government of the region had a rough start with various indigenous wars up until 1812. In 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence the state was renamed Tamaulipas.

The Republic of Texas
The Texas Revolution of 1835-1836 put the majority of what is now called the Rio Grande Valley under contested Texan sovereignty. The area also became a thoroughfare for runaway slaves fleeing to Mexico.

1846-1900s Becoming Part of the United States of America
In 1844 James K. Polk annexed the Republic of Texas into the United States against British and Mexican sentiments. According to several scholars the Mexican–American War broke out because of the annexation. The area along the Rio Grande was the source of several major battles including the Battle of Resaca de la Palma near Brownsville. The war ended in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which defined the United States' southern border as the Rio Grande River. The change in government led to a mass migration from Tamaulipas to the United States side of the river.

From the end of the Mexican-American War the population of the valley began to grow and farmers began to raise cattle in the area. Despite the end of the formal war in 1848, there continued to be inter-racial strife between native peoples and the white settlers over land through the 1920s.

Early 1900s and the Mexican Revolution
At the turn of the 20th century trade and immigration between Mexico and the United States was a normal part of society. The development of the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway in 1903 and the irrigation of the Rio Grande allowed the Rio Grande Valley to develop into profitable farmland. Droughts in the 1890s and early 1900s caused smaller farmers and cattle ranchers to lose their lands. Rich white settlers brought by the railroad bought the land and displaced the Tejano ranchers.

Meanwhile, across the river Mexico was dealing with the Mexican Revolution. The revolution spilled over the border through cross-border supply raids, and in response President Taft sent the United States Army into the region beginning in 1911 and continuing until 1916 when the majority of the United States armed forces were stationed in the region. Texas governor Oscar Colquitt also sent the Texas Rangers into the area to keep the peace between Mexicans and Americans.

The region played host to several well known conflicts including the backlash from the Plan of San Diego, and the racially fueled violence of Texas Ranger Harry Ransom. In 1921 the United States Border Patrol came to the region with less than 10 officers. Initially the agency was focused on import/export business, especially alcohol during Prohibition in the United States, but later moved to detaining illegal aliens. The region had a significant increase of Border Patrol agents during World War I in conjunction with the Zimmermann Telegram. The Texas Rangers also increased their presence as law enforcement in the region with a new class of Ranger that focused on determining Tejano loyalty. They were often violent, carrying out retaliatory murders. They were never held accountable to the law even though charges were brought in the Texas senate.

There were two major military training facilities in the valley in Brownsville and Harlingen.

Post World War II to Present
The North American Free Trade Agreement, also known as NAFTA, was established in 1994 as a trade agreement between the three North American countries, The United States, Mexico, and Canada. NAFTA was supposed to increase trade with Mexico as they lowered or eliminated tariffs on Mexican goods. Exports and imports tripled in the region and accounted for a trade surplus of $75 billion. The Rio Grande Valley benefited from NAFTA in retail, manufacturing,and transportation. Due to the influx of jobs and exportation, many people migrated to the RGV, both documented and undocumented. According to Akinloye Akindayomi in Drug violence in Mexico and its impact on the fiscal realities of border cities in Texas: evidence from Rio Grande Valley counties, NAFTA also indirectly aids the rise in immigration and drug smuggling practices between cartels in the region, with cartels profiting with over $80 billion. The Trump Administration decided to make new accords with Mexico and Canada and replaced NAFTA with the new trade agreement, United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2018.

After the September 11 attacks, the Customs Border Security Act of 2001 established United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints with some situated at the north end of the Rio Grande Valley. This allows for a second line of defense in the ever increasing subtlety of smuggling. More recently, the organization We Build The Wall has begun construction on a section of the border wall in the valley. Local residents have express concerns about the project including the site's proximity to the National Butterfly Center and the Rio Grande River with its potential for seasonal flooding. The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has ordered We Build The Wall to stop until they can review whether or not the construction violates a Treaty to resolve pending boundary differences and maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary between the United States and Mexico signed in 1970.

Colonias
The major metropolitan areas in the Rio Grande River Valley are surrounded by smaller rural communities called Colonias. These communities are primarily poor and hispanic. A case study of Corazón, a colonia in the region was studied and found to contain a majority of hispanic working class people who spoke Spanish as their primary language. The areas often lack basic services like sanitation and sewage. Flooding and lack of trash collection are among the major sanitation issues in colonias. According to several sources including the book Justice and Space Matter in a Strong, United Latino Community, zoning laws and building codes are not enforced. Many of these colonias are mixes of mobile homes and self-constructed houses owned by the residents. The Bracero program enacted in the 1940's allowed Mexicans to cross the border and work in the agricultural fields. Most worked in the Rio Grande Valley, and due to a shortage of affordable houses, developers started selling them land in unincorporated areas; these clusters of homes over time became what are now known as Colonias. According to the Housing Assistance Council, a nonprofit organization that tracks rural housing, approximately 1.6 million people live in 1,500 recognized colonias alongside the Mexico–United States border.

Language Use
The residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley are generally bilingual in English and Spanish often mixing into Spanglish depending on demographics and context. Government statistics for the region are often underreported due to underlying immigration issues.

Spanish
Spanish language plays an important role in all aspects of life. In 1982 a statistically significant majority of people in the Rio Grande Valley spoke Spanish. People speak Spanish to communicate in all aspects of life including business, government, and at home.

People often prefer Spanish to English in when interfacing with government officials as seen in the response to the region's 2018 flooding. Residents of the area often switch from English to Spanish and inter-mix both languages, this is called Spanglish. Spanglish is more than switching or knowing both languages, but it is a form of identifying with a community and living the environment.

Education
Historically education has posed significant challenges to schools in the region. Schools in the early 1920's through the 1940's were racially segregated in the Rio Grande Valley. In 1940 a study showed the need for improvement in cultural differentiation of instruction. The Texas Supreme court in Del Rio ISD v. Salvatierra reinforced the racial segregation. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Bilingual Education Act, helping students whose second language was English. The Act gave financial assistance to local schools to create bilingual programs, enabling Mexican students to integrate white schools. The area like many others had a hard time integrating. Texas still has the bilingual program, while states like: California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, have removed the bill and passed similar propositions stating that students would only be taught in English. The bilingual program in the Rio Grande Valley is still in effect especially with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students in the area.