ABOUT

Galveston /??ælv?st?n/ is a coastal city located on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of 208.3 square miles (539 km²), with its population of 47,762 people (2012 Census estimate), is the county seatand second-largest municipality of Galveston County. It is located within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area.

History

Galveston Island was originally inhabited by members of the Karankawa and Akokisa tribes who called the island Auia. The Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were shipwrecked on the island or nearby in November 1528, calling it"Isla de Malhado" ("Isle of Bad Fate"). They began their years-long trek to a Spanish settlement in Mexico City. During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia named the island Gálvez-town or Gálveztown in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez.