Pineda explorer biography
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Alonso Alvarez de Pineda.
Spanish explorer and mapmaker Captain Alonso Alvarez de Pineda and his crew were probably the first Europeans in Texas, claiming it for Spain. Little is known of Pineda’s early life, but in 1517, he sailed for the Spanish Governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay. The Spanish thought there must be a sea lane from the Gulf of Mexico to Asia. In 1517 and 1519, Pineda led several expeditions to map 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, Alvarez de Pineda entered a large bay with a sizable Native American settlement on one shore. He sailed upriver for 18 miles and observed as many as 40 villages on the banks of the large, deep river he named “Espíritu Santo.” It has been long assumed that he was the first European to report on the mouth of the Mississippi River. Pineda continued his journey westward, and one of the regions he explored and
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Antonio Pineda
Spanish naturalist and military officer
For the Civil Air Patrol officer, see Antonio J. Pineda. For the Mexican gymnast, see Tony Piñeda.
Antonio Pineda | |
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| Born | (1751-01-17)January 17, 1751 Guatemala City, New Spain. |
| Died | June 23, 1792(1792-06-23) (aged 41) |
Antonio Pineda (January 17, 1751 – June 23, 1792) was a Spanish naturalist and military officer. He participated in the Malaspina Expedition as leader of the natural history team which included Thaddäus Haenke and Luis Née. His scientific exploration and collecting covered a significant portion of the Pacific basin including the coast of South America, Mexico, and the Philippines. Before his untimely death in the Philippines, Pineda had amassed a huge volume of documents including scientific reports, diaries, and logbooks as well as a significant collection of natural history specimens.[1]
Biography
[edit]Pineda was born on January 17, 1751, in Guatemala City, New Spain.
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Texas Originals
Alonso Álvarez de Pineda
1494–1520
Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez dem Pineda was the first European to set eyes on the land that would become Texas. His 1519 expedition mapped the American Gulf Coast, creating the very first document of Texas history.
Scholars know little of Álvarez’s background. He first appears in the record amid the intrigues of the Spanish conquest of North amerika. In 1519, as fellow conquistador Hernán Cortés began his fateful campaign against the Aztecs, Álvarez set sail from Jamaica, journeying north to Florida and then following the Gulf Coast west and south all the way to Veracruz.
Álvarez did not find what he sought—a övergång to the Pacific. He did, however, prove to Spain that Florida and the Yucatan belonged to the same continent. He also mapped the Gulf Coast, making him the first europeisk to document the mun of the Mississippi River and the land that became Texas.
At the end of his journey, Álvarez settled in Mexico on the Pá