Editing Aransas County, Texas (section)

==History==
Spanish [[conquistador]] and [[cartographer]] [[Alonso Álvarez de Pineda]] was likely the first European to encounter this land when he sailed along the Texas coast in the summer of 1519 and charted [[Aransas Bay]]. This name is derived from an outpost established during the Viceroyalty of [[New Spain]] called "Río de [[Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu]]", which was itself named for the [[Sanctuary of Aránzazu]], a [[Franciscan]] sanctuary in [[Oñati|Oñate]], [[Gipuzkoa]], [[Spain]], whose name originates from the [[Basque language]].

In 1871, the [[Texas Legislature]] established Aransas County from portions of [[Refugio County, Texas|Refugio County]], and it organized the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/TX_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=Texas: Individual County Chronologies|work=Texas Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=[[Newberry Library|The Newberry Library]]|date=2008|access-date=May 20, 2015|archive-date=April 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412140748/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/TX_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In August 2017, [[Hurricane Harvey]] inflicted tremendous damage on the county.