Little has been written about the colonists sent by Spanish authorities to settle the northern frontier of New Spain, to stake Spain's claim and serve as a buffer against encroaching French explorers. ""Los Paisanos,"" they were called - simple country people who lived by their own labor, isolated, threatened by hostile Indians, and restricted by law from seeking opportunity elsewhere. They built their homes, worked their fields, and became permanent residents - the forebears of United States citizens - as they developed their own society and culture, much of which survives today.