Laredo, Texas was founded by Don Tomas Sanchez under the name of Villa de San Agustin de Laredo in 1755 in a colony called Nuevo Santander in New Spain. Today, most of Nuevo Santander is part of Texas. Laredo was named after a village in Spain also called Laredo in Cantabria. In 1847, when Texas became part of the United States, 17 families decided to remain Mexican and crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico and established Ciudad Nuevo Laredo.