Alonzo Alvarez De Pineda

Alonzo Alvarez De Pineda was a Spanish explorer and a map-maker that, in 1517, was sailing for the Spanish Governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay. The Spanish thought there was a sea route from the gulf of Mexico to Asia. In 1517-1519 Pineda led several expeditions to the western coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatan Peninsula, to the Panuco River, just north of Veracruz, Mexico.

 On June  2, 1519 he entered a bay with a sizable Native American settlement.   He sailed up river for 18 miles and saw as many as 40 villages on the banks of a large river he named "Espíritu Santo". It was long assumed that he was the first European report of the mouth of the Mississippi River. De Pineda continued his journey westward and one of the regions he explored and mapped was the area around the Corpus Christi Bay entering the bay on Corpus Christi the Feast Day, hence the name.

 Shortly after he sailed up on a river, he named Las Palmas (which was most likely the Rio Grande River) where he spent over 40 days repairing his ships. The expedition established the rest of the Gulf of Mexico boundaries, while disapproving a sea passage to Asia.

 It was also verified that Florida was a peninsula instead of an island, and allowed Pineda to be the first European to explore the coastal areas of western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, lands he called, "Amichel." His map is the first known Texas history document and was the first map of the Gulf coast region of the U.S.  This increased Spanish interest in the region.   The next year he was killed in a fight in Panuco, Mexico with Huastec Indians.