Cabeza de Vaca entered Texas above Port Arthur then walked to the Rio Grande at El Paso. He visited today's Houston, forded the Colorado River, and passed through San Antonio. New Mexico and Arizona were also described before Vaca reached Spain's nearest outpost, below Tucson in Mexico, where he wrote what he recalled of his long journey across Native America. His writings are the oldest we have of our country, but differ from what most of us learned in school.

Texas Trail Map   Houston   Epilogue   Later Conquest