tected from the larger ocean—of Point Reyes,
in theharbor now known as Drake’s Bay.
Other scholars place the landing further
south, at Bolinas, near San Francisco itself, or
elsewhere.
When Drake landed, he was met by local
Indians, who are thought to have been the
Coast Miwok, the original inhabitants of
what is now Marin County. The Miwok were
friendly toward the strangers and showered
them with gifts. Francis Fletcher, the chap-
lain and diarist of Drake’s expedition, wrote
that the Miwok were “of a free and loving
nature, without guile or treachery.” The
Miwok guided the English with elaborate cer-
emony to their village, wherethey placed a
crown on Drake’s head. Thinking of their
monarch at home in England, the English
assumed that the Miwok thought them to be
gods. Modern anthropological research sug-
gests that the Miwok instead considered the
strangers to be living representatives of dead
ancestors.
Drake and his men explored some of the
wooded countryside beyond the harbor, but
their main business was making The Golden
Hindseaworthy. Before his departure, Drake
named the northwest coast “Nova [New]
Albion,” a poetic name once used when refer-
ring to England, claimed it for Queen Elizabeth,Francis Drake just missed San Francisco Bay during his late 16th-century circumnavigation of the globe. In
this 1902 photograph, the bay is shown before the Golden Gate Bridge, which now spans this portion, was
built.(Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-107985])Charting the Coast of California B 127