The Island of California

While California has only been an American state since 1850, California has been known as a place of sunshine, gold, and riches since the early 16th century...in literature, at any rate. 

Map of California, 1650, Johannes Vingboos. Public Domain. The compass rose is pointing to the approximate location of modern day San Diego.

Back in 1510, a Castilian author named Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo wrote a chivalric romance called Las Sergas de Esplandián (which is cited in Don Quixote). The fictional island of California is mentioned, ruled by Queen Calafia, and it's a pretty amazing-sounding place. The land is rugged, but it's inhabited by women only, and there's gold for the taking.

Renaissance-era Europeans were entranced, and believed the account must be true. In 1533, explorer Fortún Ximénez discovered the southern portion of what is now Baja California--a peninsula that was often mistaken for an island for quite some time. He died, but two years later, Hernán Cortés arrived at the bay, attempting to start a colony there. Even though the native population (which included men) weren't dripping with gold jewelry, the idea that this must be the fabled California stuck.

Conquistador Hernán Cortés by Paolo Giovio. Public Domain.

In 1539, however, Cortés sent Francisco de Ulloa northward along the Gulf and Pacific coasts. At the head of the Gulf, Ulloa reached the mouth of the Colorado River, so 16th century maps began to show Baja California as a peninsula. 

Satellite view of Baja California. Public Domain.

Within several years, however, European maps returned to depicting California as an island. The 1602 journal kept by one Father Antonio de la Ascension, sailing up the coast with Sebastian Vizcaino, insisted California was separated from the rest of North America by the "Mediterranean Sea of California." This seemed to be enough evidence for European mapmakers.

It wasn't until almost a hundred years later that a Jesuit missionary and cartographer, Father Eusebius Francisco Kino, set off to find new people and eventually came to the Colorado River, near what is now Yuma, Arizona. He proved California was fixed to the rest of the continent, but the matter was not entirely put to rest until the time of the American Revolutionary War, around 1775, when Juan Bautista de Anza explored the area between Sonora and California coast.

Juan Bautista de Anza, photographic reproduction of an oil painting by Fray Orsi, 1774. Public Domain.

The lure of the California myth was strong, and while it was no longer regarded as an island, myths of California remain. The promise of gold, sunshine, and plenty has drawn millions--and it should be noted that two thirds of all fruits produced in America, and one third of its vegetables, are grown in California. (Click here.)

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California native Susanne Dietze is a RITA-nominated author who's seen her books on the ECPA and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller lists for inspirational fiction. Her latest novel is The Blizzard Bride. Learn more about her on her website, www.susannedietze.com.