Galveston is located in the southeastern part of the state of Texas and a city and seat of Galveston County and is in the southeast part of Houston. The area is a major deepwater port along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at the northeastern end of Galveston Island. It extends up to the Texas coast that separates Galveston Bay and West Bay from the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish that explored the island named Avar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was thought to have been shipwrecked in 1528. The area where the present-day Galveston stands were occupied by the Karankawa Indians. The troops of Bernardo de Galvez, who was the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, temporarily occupied the island and named it Galvez, hence the present-name Galveston.