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In 1517, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda had led several expeditions to map the western coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatán Peninsula to the Pánuco River, just north of Veracruz. ... He left Jamaica in early 1519 and sailed west to follow the northern coastline of the Gulf.
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Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1490-c.1560) was born in Jeréz de la Frontera, Spain, to a noble family; his early career was in the military. In 1527, he was appointed second in command of an expedition headed up by Panfilo de Narváez, who wanted to claim the territory from Florida to Mexico for Spain.
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The Ysleta Mission, located in the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo within the municipality of El Paso, Texas, is recognized as the oldest continuously operated parish in the State of Texas. The Ysleta community is also recognized as the oldest in Texas and claims to have the oldest continuously cultivated plot of land in the United States.
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The French colonization of Texas began with Fort Saint Louis in present-day southeastern Texas. It was established in 1685 near Arenosa Creek and Matagorda Bay by explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He intended to found the colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but inaccurate maps and navigational errors caused his ships to anchor instead 400 miles (640 km) to the west, off the coast of Texas. The colony survived until 1688. The present-day town of Inez is near the fort's site.
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The French presence in Louisiana and along the Mississippi-Missouri-Arkansas river drainages complicated Spanish-Indian relations in east Texas. By trading horses and guns and intermarrying with natives, the French had upset the balance of power among Plains tribes. By the first decade of the 18th century, the Spaniards had realized the French impact on their positions south of the Río Grande.
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