Notes

During the years from 1542 to 1603, Spanish and English explorers traveled along California’s coast. One mission was to set up trading ports so ships sailing to and from Asia could launch from California instead of from Mexico or places farther south. As it turned out, ships could make the trip very quickly and didn’t need to stop in California. After the last visit in 1603, Spain and England ignored California for more than 150 years.
1. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Cabrillo was a Spanish soldier and explorer who discovered California in 1542. He may also have been one of the conquerors of the region that includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. He explored most of California’s coast by ship.
2. Sebastián Vizcaíno
The merchant Vizcaíno sailed the southern California coast in 1602-1603. He named San Diego, Santa Catalina Island, the Santa Barbara Channel and Monterey Bay. He told the Spanish king that Monterey Bay was the perfect anchoring spot for ships sailing to the Philippines. This claim wasn’t true, but Vizcaíno wanted the king to believe his voyage had been a big success. His maps of California’s coast were so accurate, ship navigators used them until 1790. After Vizcaíno’s last visit, Spain lost interest in California and focused on trade with Asia.
3. Captain James Cook
Cook was an English explorer, navigator and mapmaker. He made three trips to the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European to see Easter Island, Hawaii and several other small islands. He was also the first European to land on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He explored and mapped the North American coast from California all the way to the Bering Strait (see Vitus Bering). Cook was killed by natives in Hawaii in 1779.
4. Vitus Bering
Born in Denmark, Bering was hired by Russia to explore Northeastern Siberia. In 1728, Bering and his men sailed north through a narrow strait (a narrow passage of water connecting two seas) connecting the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. While Bering didn’t realize it at the time, the strait was a major discovery, as it made it possible for future explorers to pass from one ocean to the other quickly and relatively safely. The strait is now called the Bering Strait, after Vitus Bering. Bering died of scurvy on a small island off the Aleutian Islands in 1741.
5. Hernán Cortés
Cortés, born in 1485 in Spain, was only 7 years old when Christopher Columbus discovered America. In 1518, the Spanish sent Cortés to establish a colony on the Central American mainland. In 1519, he landed in present-day Veracruz, Mexico. He conquered Montezuma II and the Aztec people. New Spain was born. Over the years, he tried to make the Spanish strong in Mexico, but he couldn’t make it work. He crossed the ocean several times to defend his actions to the king in Spain. In 1547, he received permission to return to Mexico, but he died before the trip could be made.
6. Sir Francis Drake
In 1577, the English sent Drake on a trip around South America and up the west coast. He attacked small Spanish outposts and robbed them and their ships of gold, treasure and supplies. In 1579, he anchored near San Francisco and named the surrounding land New Albion. He claimed it for the English. Drake continued west in his ship named the Golden Hind and became the first captain to sail his own ship all the way around the world.
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