Christianity reached the territory now known as the United States from three distinct sources, namely, the Spanish colonies in the south, the French settlements in the north, and from the English Catholic colony of Maryland in the east. The sphere of influence of the Spanish missionaries was Florida, California, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1526 an expedition under the command of de Narvaez and accompanied by several Franciscan Fathers was sent to explore Florida, but the expedition ended in complete failure. Several other attempts of a similar kind were made with no better results till at last, aroused by the danger of a French occupation, Menendez established a permanent settlement at Fort St. Augustine and prepared the way for Spanish occupation (1565). Menendez, zealous for the conversion of the natives, invited the Jesuits to come to Florida, as did also the Franciscans. At first the work of conversion was attended with great difficulties and proceeded very slowly, but by the year 1700 many Christian villages had been established. The attacks of the English on Florida injured the missions, and the cession of Florida to England (1763) completed the work of destruction.[12] Lower California was discovered by Cortez in 1533, and Upper California by Cabrillo eleven years later. In the beginning the missionaries encountered great opposition, but after 1697 the Jesuit Fathers were very successful. They formed the natives into permanent settlements or reductions, and so rapidly did the work of evangelisation proceed that in 1767, the year in which the Jesuits were expelled by Spain, nearly all the Indians were converted. The Franciscan Fathers succeeded the Jesuits, continuing their reductions in Lower California, and introducing missions of a similar kind among the Indians of Upper California. The Dominicans, also, rendered valuable assistance. In 1822 California was ceded to the United States, and the missions were broken up owing to the hostility of the civil authorities.[13] The Franciscans were the first to undertake missions in New Mexico (1539). Several of the missionaries suffered martyrdom in their attempts to convert the natives, but it was only after 1597 that any considerable progress was made. In Texas the earliest real effort at introducing Christianity among the natives was made in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The work of the Franciscans was disturbed by rebellions among the Indians and by war, but notwithstanding these obstacles several flourishing Indian settlements were established. In 1813 the Spanish Cortes issued a decree that the missions in Texas should be secularised.[14]