Search results
Though several Spanish expeditions charted the Gulf Coast, it was explorer José Antonio de Evia who in 1785 gave the bay and the island the name Gálvezton in honor of Spanish viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez. [13] . Louis Aury established a naval base at the harbor in 1816 to support the Mexican War of Independence.
The bay was named in July 1785 by José de Evía, a Spanish pilot, who surveyed the Gulf Coast by order of Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Louisiana (and later viceroy of Mexico). The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Galveston Bay of today looks radically different than it did when it first formed 5,000 years ago. As the last Ice Age came to an end over 18,000 years ago, the Earth warmed, the Pleistocene mammals that roamed the area became extinct, ice sheets withdrew, sea levels rose, and the shoreline moved to near-present locations.
- Pirates
- Immigration
- Wall Street of The South
- The Birthplace of Juneteenth
Later visitors included corsairs, like the French Jean Lafitte, who built the small colony of Campeche in 1817. Ever the privateer, he used this as a base to raid Spanish merchant ships that passed through the Gulf. He fled after a decade, burning down the community he built (his treasures are rumored to be buried on the Island).
Founded in 1838, Galveston established prosperity through a natural deep-water port, expansion of trade routes throughout the region, and development of industry, such as cotton, in the decades leading up to the Great Storm of 1900. The people of Galveston Island would find themselves as a fundamental piece of the state and region's growth and dive...
In 1836, Canadian fur trader Michel B. Menard purchased seven square miles of land, which became the City of Galveston. It was the same year Texas gained independence from Mexico and became a republic. Other great changes followed, business flourished, and Galveston became a major U.S. commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United St...
Juneteenth is a national holiday that signifies the celebration of the end of slavery for southern slaves in Galveston two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. This historic event holds a special place in the United States and African American history, but the richness of Juneteenth or June 19, 1865 goes well beyond celebrating Ema...
A 1785 expedition by José Antonio de Evia charting the Gulf Coast gave the bay and the island the name Galveztown, or Galvezton, for the Spanish Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez. [ 15 ] During the early 18th Century, French traders first began trade with the Akokisa and the nearby Bidai tribes for furs. [ 16 ]
Galveston was founded in 1836 by Michel Menard, Samuel May Williams, and Thomas F. McKinney, and briefly served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. The Battle of Galveston was fought in Galveston Bay during the American Civil War when Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from ...
People also ask
How did Galveston Bay get its name?
What is the history of the Galveston Bay Area?
Did Spanish explorers map Galveston Bay?
What happened to Galveston Bay 5000 years ago?
What is Galveston Bay?
When did Galveston become a city?
what Galveston Bay is and of its importance today. But how did it get here? What were the geologic, cultural, societal, political, and economic factors that put it where it is today? The following paragraphs attempt to summarize 18,000 years of the history of Galveston Bay by consolidating the work of noted histori-
