The shores of Corpus Christi ( or Body of Christ ) Bay are thought to have been inhabited by the Karankawa Indians before the European discovery . Archeological evidence suggest that pred @-@ Karankawa peoples used the area near Oso Bay as a burial ground between 500 BC and 500 AD . It is believed to have first been spotted by Europeans on Corpus Christi Day 1519 , when Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda navigated its waters . Joaquín de Orobio y Basterra came across the bay in 1746 , when given orders to settle the area between Tampico , Mexico , and the mouth of the San Antonio River at San Antonio Bay . He named the bay after St. Michael the Archangel , but the name did not stick and was referred to as " Corpus Christi Bay " in a 1766 report by Diego Ortiz Parrilla . Explorer Blas María de la Garza Falcón is believed to have been the first man to purchase land on the bay in 1746 . Shortly thereafter the short @-@ lived settlement of Villa de Vedoya was founded on the mouth of the Nueces River .