GALVESTON COUNTY is a county located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, on the plains of the Texas Gulf Coast in the southeastern part of the state. Its county seat is Galveston.
American presence in Galveston County began in 1815 when Henry Perry and Warren D. C. Hall, former members of the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, landed at Bolivar Point in September with three ships and 200 men. Perry named the point for Simón Bolívar, the "Liberator," who commissioned him to attack Spanish commerce on the Gulf and direct expeditions against the Spanish in Mexico.
The period from 1815 to 1821, however, was dominated by freebooters, filibusters, and pirates, notably the Frenchmen Louis Michel Aury and Jean Laffite. Aury arrived with thirteen ships on September 16, 1816, and established a base on Galveston Island.  Galveston County was formed in 1838 under the republic from Harrisburg, Liberty, and Brazoria counties and organized in 1839.  When Texas joined the Union, Galveston was the largest city in Texas, with a population of 3,500. By the eve of the Civil War, however, the county had only nine manufacturing establishments, and Houston had begun to overshadow Galveston as the state's largest port.

Cities and towns
Bayou Vista Clear Lake Shores Dickinson Friendswood Galveston Hitchcock Jamaica Beach Kemah La Marque	League City Santa Fe Texas City Village: Tiki Island Unincorporated Areas: Bacliff Bolivar Peninsula High Island Port Bolivar San Leon