Atlas of Hispanic-American History

ary dispute in Texas between the French

and the Spanish continued unabated

through the colonial era and would play

out in a different, more violent form—the

Texas independence movement and the

U.S.-Mexican War—by the United States

and Mexico in the 19th century.

Alta California

Baja (Low) California, the peninsula that

today is part of Mexico, was discovered by

Cortés in the 1530s. The European dis-

covery of Alta (High) California, the

region we call simply California, soon fol-

lowed. In 1540–1543, Portuguese explor-

er Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (d. 1543), a

comrade of Cortés in the conquest of

Mexico, traveled north along the Pacific

coast beyond Baja California and encoun-

tered San Diego Bay and other sites. He

sailed farther north than present-day San

Francisco, then turned back and sailed to

San Miguel Island near present-day Los

Angeles, where he died of illness, leaving

others to finish the expedition.

No apparent gold or silver beckoned

in California, so the Spanish left it alone.

Drake explored and claimed northern

California for England in 1579, but the

English also left it alone. Finally, in the

mid-18th century, Russian ships began to

trade for fur along the Pacific coast north

of California, spurring the Spanish to

defend their claim to California.

60 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY

Early Spanish Exploration of California, 1540-1605

During the mid-16th and early 17th centuries several exploratory Spanish expeditions either surveyed the California coast by sea or

traversed part of it by land. While Francisco de Coronado may have crossed into California in search of the legendary Seven Cities

of Cíbola, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed as far north as present-day Washington State.