<P> Indians confirmed in 1746 that French traders periodically arrived by sea to trade with tribes in the lower Trinity River region . Eight years later, the Spanish learned of rumors that the French had opened a trading post at the mouth of the Trinity River . In September 1754, the governor, Jacinto de Barrios y Jáuregui sent soldiers to investigate, and they captured five Frenchmen who had been living at an Indian village . To dissuade the French from returning, Spain built the presidio of San Agustín de Ahumada and the mission of Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Orcoquisac near the mouth of the Trinity at Galveston Bay . Conditions were awful at the new location, and both the presidio and the mission were closed in 1770 . </P> <P> The Presidio La Bahía was moved from the Guadalupe River to Goliad on the San Antonio River in 1749 . Within five years, a new mission for the Karankawa tribes, Nuestra Señora del Rosario de los Cuhanes, was built upstream of the presidio . This mission survived for many years . Despite the new missions and presidios, Texas was one of the least populated provinces on the northern frontier of New Spain . By 1760, almost 1,200 Hispanic people lived in Texas, with half in San Antonio, 350 at Los Adaes, and 260 at La Bahía . Other Spaniards lived in what is now the El Paso area, but that was considered part of New Mexico and not part of Texas . </P> <P> On November 3, 1762, as part of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, France ceded the portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain . Spain had assisted France against Britain in the Seven Years' War, and lost both Manila and Havana to the British . Although the Louisiana colony was a financial liability, King Carlos III of Spain reluctantly accepted it, as that meant France was finally ceding its claim to Texas . At the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, Great Britain recognized Spain's right to the lands west of the Mississippi . Great Britain received the remainder of France's North American territories, and Spain exchanged some of their holdings in Florida for Havana . </P> <Table> San Antonio de Béxar Population <Tr> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Population </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1740 </Td> <Td> 437--560 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1762 </Td> <Td> 514--661 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1770 </Td> <Td> 860 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1777 </Td> <Td> 1,351 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1780 </Td> <Td> 1,463 </Td> </Tr> </Table>

During the spanish colonial period what group posed the greatest threat to settlers in new mexico