The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 373
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
1995 Alonso Alvarez de Pineda and the Rio de las Palmas 373
received a good reception from the natives, traded for provisions, and
acquired gold valued at three thousand castellanos. The expedition's
members had also seen a number of towns with high, well-built houses
of thatch. Cortes then sent the prisoners and some Indian messengers of
Moctezuma II northward to win the allegiance of the "lord of that river,
called Panuco [sic]..." for his monarch.14
Rebuffed at Villa Rica, Pineda sailed back to the north and entered a
large river, where he spent about forty days. The location of that river
forms an important part of this paper. As indicated earlier, Carlos E.
Castafieda identified it as the Rio Grande, "soon to be known as the Rio
de las Palmas.""
To support his contention, Castafieda cited the work of a sixteenth-
century historian, L6pez de G6mara, who stated the distance between
the Pinuco River and the Rio de las Palmas (i.e., the Rio Grande, ac-
cording to Castafieda) as more than thirty leagues, or about ninety
miles. This statement in itself represents an astonishing oversight by Cas-
tafieda. Along the coast from Tampico, Tamaulipas, to Brownsville,
Texas, the distance is approximately 250 miles; by road it is well in ex-
cess of 300 miles. In the same volume, Castafieda felt obliged to refute
evidence flowing from an expedition led by Alonso De Le6n Sr. in the
165os. De Le6n recorded the mouth of the Rio de las Palmas at twenty-
four degrees north latitude, which is only a few minutes off the location
of the present-day Rio Soto la Marina where it enters the Gulf at La
Pesca. Undaunted, Castafieda insisted that De Le6n had made a mistake
in reading his astrolabe, and that he should have reported twenty-six de-
grees north latitude!16
" Ibid., I, 193, 194 (quotation)
,5 Castafieda, Catholic Heritage, I, 13. For recent developments in the historiography of early
exploration, see Robert S. Weddle, "Spanish Exploration of the Texas Coast, 1519-18oo," Bul-
letin of the Texas Archeological Soczety, LXIII (1992), 99.
16 Castafieda, Catholic Heritage, I, 13, 210-211. Castafieda was not the first historian to confuse
the Rio Grande with the Rio de las Palmas, but his greater impact on Texas history is well estab-
lished. He was likely influenced by Charles W. Hackett, his associate and mentor at the Universi-
ty of Texas. In 1918, in the first volume and number of the Hzspanic American Historical Review, p.
49, Hackett wrote: "In July, 1523, Garay attempted to establish a colony ... between the Rio de
las Palmas (Rio Grande) and the Rio Pinuco." Later (1931), as editor and translator of Pchar-
do's Treatzse on the Limts of Louzszana and Texas (4 vols.; Austin: University of Texas Press,
1931-1946), his index cross-referenced Rio de las Palmas to Rio Grande, and vice versa. See I,
6o8 and 614, and I, 75n 1, wherein Hackett also equated the Rio de las Palmas with the Rio
Grande. Likewise in volume I, Hackett translated this passage from Francisco L6pez de G6mara's
La histona general de las Indzas, con todos los descubnmzentos, y cosas notables que han acaesidos enellas,
dende que se ganaron hasta agora. ... (Anvers: En casa de Iuan Steelslo, 1554), capitulo XII: "From
the Rio de las Palmas to the Rio Panuco [sic] there are more than 30 leagues." But in this same
paragraph, G6mara stated that the Rio de las Palmas was situated at a location "near which cross-
es the tropic of Cancer." See I, 78. The Tropic of Cancer crosses just south of the mouth of the
present-day Rio Soto la Marina, not the Rio Grande. Additionally, in April 1528 Alonso de
Chaves received appointment as royal pilot and cosmographer. Chaves was to construct charts,
establish latitudes, and do "other things" to aid navigation in the Indies. In charting the coast of
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995, periodical, 1995; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101216/m1/429/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.