Two Spanish explorers were the first to write about pecans in
historical documents. In 1533, Lope de Oviedo wrote in his
journal in about 1533 that “there were on the banks of this
river many nuts, which the Indians ate.” Eight years later in
1541, Cabeza de Vaca, who had been taken prisoner by the
Indians, wrote about these nuts. “It is the subsistence of the
people (the Indians) for two months in the year without any
other thing.” Both explorers observed the pecans along rivers
in what is now Texas.