 The shores of Corpus Christi ( or Body of Christ ) Bay are thought to have been inhabited by the Karankawa Indians before the European discovery . <unk> evidence suggests that pre @-@ 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 <unk> , when Spanish explorer Alonso <unk> de <unk> <unk> its waters . Joaquín de <unk> y <unk> came across the bay in <unk> , 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 <unk> . Explorer <unk> María de la Garza <unk> is believed to have been the first man to purchase land on the bay in <unk> . Shortly thereafter the short @-@ lived settlement of Villa de <unk> was founded on the mouth of the Nueces River . 
