1300 to 1600

Caddo PotteryOccupation appears to be less intense than the Caddoan settlement of 300 years earlier. In summary the prehistoric investigations of the Joe Pool Lake area have demonstrated that small groups of hunters and gatherers used the area only seasonally during most of the prehistoric period.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca1528

Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and shipwrecked crew arrive near Galveston Island.


Conquistador Juan de Oñate officially claims all the land drained by the Rio Grande as Spanish territory. With this act, the foundation is laid for two centuries of Spanish control of Texas and the American southwest.