Orcoquisac

Orcoquisac was an Akokisa settlement and later a Spanish mission and presidio near the lower Trinity River in southeastern Texas. The Akokisa spoke an Atakapan language and inhabited the country between the Trinity and Sabine rivers, including the shores of Galveston Bay. The river, bay and surrounding wetlands lay at the meeting of Spanish and French interests in the eighteenth century.

In 1756–1757 Spanish authorities established Nuestra Señora de la Luz mission and a presidio for the Akokisa and Bidai. Officials debated moving the complex to a site farther west, but missionaries and Indigenous residents objected. The dispute continued for years, and the complex was abandoned in the early 1770s. Its brief history shows the difficulty of imposing a fixed colonial settlement on the coastal frontier.