The first of five missions to be built in what would become San Antonio was established by Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares of the College of Santa Cruz of Querétaroqv, who first visited the region in 1709. Originally known as the Mission San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo, began as a Catholic mission and compound in 1718, one of many Catholic missions organized as part of the official Spanish plan to Christianize Native Americans and colonize northern New Spain.