In the summer of 1519, Alonso Alvarez de Piñeda, sailing for Francisco de Garay, Governor of Jamaica, took a fleet of four ships east to west around the Gulf Coast. (1) His voyage was not just exploration; it was a political move to secure the land northwest of the Gulf of Mexico against the possible expansion of Cortés. (2) Limits to the New World, limits to exploration, were already realized, and Spanish conquistadors and governors scrambled for claims amid a cloud of royal documents of permission and military moves. (3)

Piñeda's voyage was made also to check on the remote possibility that a strait, not discovered but already named Strait of Anian, stretched from the northern Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Or this was a convenient excuse. Still, some people thought Florida to be an island, in spite of the growing evidence on maps which showed a disturbingly solid continent. Although it was becoming clear that the Spanish could not sail straight through to the western sea and the Orient, (4) the land in the way might be valuable. One could hope for silver and gold as Mexico had provided, and the land might be good for successful cattle raising such as Garay had done.

Copy of Piñeda's map of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline Institute of Texan Cultures, 74-227

Piñeda's voyage produced an excellent sketch map of the Gulf of Mexico—it did not establish incontestable claims or settlement in present Texas. (5) Garay sent another expedition the next year, a support group under Diego de Camargo, to found a colony. This effort was definitely not a voyage of exploration. It included a hundred and fifty men, seven horses, light artillery, and bricks and lime to build a fortress. This group almost certainly tried to establish themselves at the Río Pánuco at present Tampico, Mexico. Here Pineda had stayed for over a month.

Camargo's effort failed. Natives captured most of the ships and defeated the Spanish in several attacks.

Garay, however, refused to give up, even though the area was becoming more of a problem than an opportunity. In June of 1523, Garay himself, armed with an out-of-date royal grant, sailed as he had sent Camargo—not as an explorer but as a colonizer. The fleet arrived at Río de las Palmas, somewhat above Pánuco, and found what was described as a worthless area. (6)

Cortés had just previously taken the time to march north and find the remains of the former effort at Pánuco. In any case, the king had just reconfirmed Cortés's rights, and Garay was essentially defeated both on land and on paper.

Cortés, conqueror of Mexico Institute of Texan Cultures, 74-241

Garay's forces, over six hundred people, walked south. Most of Garay's men declined to follow any further so unfortunate a conquistador and openly opted for Cortés. Garay himself journeyed on to Mexico where—since he represented no threat—he was hosted well by Cortés. Garay died just after Christmas Day. Cortés said he died of a broken heart, the doctors confirmed pneumonia, and others mentioned poison. (7)

Garay was formally succeeded as governor of the lands north of Cortés's control and west of Florida by Nuño de Guzmán. Guzmán and his relative Sancho de Caniego, by 1527, launched entradas to the north from Pánuco, but they did not reach present Texas.

Copy of a late codex drawing showing an attack by the Spanish and their native allies in Mexico Institute of Texan Cultures, 74-242

All this thrashing around revealed the Texas coast and the delineation of the Gulf of Mexico. No waterway existed to the Pacific, and the Texas coast was inhospitable. Only the interior was now uncertain.

And the interior was defined by other Spanish explorers. They were plentiful enough for an area that provided no rich mines and was in large part quite unpleasant to walk across.

Cover illustration to Álvar Núñez Relacion, 1542 Institute of Texan Cultures, 68-2017c

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Estevanico, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado crossed Texas as survivors of the doomed expedition Pánfilo de Narváez had captained. In spite of Guzmán, Narváez had received royal permission to colonize Florida, which could be interpreted as lands between the present-day state and northeast Mexico. These explorers of Texas had been captives of the natives near the coast since their shipwreck in 1528 and were not visiting the land by choice. Eventually reaching Mexico by 1536, the four gave reports of the land, and Cabeza de Vaca wrote a book on the journey. Their stories not only explained much of the land and people to the north of Mexico but encouraged others to design expeditions. More than a hint of wealth was in the air. Spanish legend had put seven cities of gold in the American Southwest. This was a long-standing European myth, that kept being moved into unknown lands. Except for a couple of rumored and rather mobile Pacific islands, the high plains from Texas to Kansas became the last possible location.

Thus, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado crossed the plains from the west, no one knows exactly how far, in 1541. Luis de Moscoso de Alvarado, leading what was left of De Soto's expedition, saw much of northeast Texas the next year. Antonio de Espejo crossed the trans-Pecos in 1582-83, and Gaspar Castaño de Sosa explored the mid-Río Grande and the Pecos River in 1590. (8) These, among a dozen other overland explorers—long after the 1520's—very generally but essentially defined the area of future Texas. (9)

Exploration now yielded to journeys of settlement, missionary activity, and colonial effort including the establishment of local governments.

The land bordering the northwest Gulf of Mexico, the land soon to be a buffer zone between Spanish claims and incursions of French, English, and Anglos, was generally known. Many a Texas river drainage, canyon, mesa, plain, and a couple of forests still called for exploration. But, however interesting, these were details. And, like the New World itself, the details would be discovered and defined by explorers.

Through this land area would run the northern line of Spain’s presidios and missions but only light Spanish settlement. Such hopeful names as “The New Philippines” and “Florida” would yield to Coahuila, Nuevo Santander, Texas or Tejas, the spellings used interchangeably.

When this happened, fully at the turn of the sixteenth century, exploration in the grand sense was over. The land would be explored in detail; the general outlines were known. The map could be filled in.