The First Europeans in California
Christopher Columbus Born in Italy Was an explorer King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain paid for his voyage across the Atlantic in hopes to find a shortcut to Asia Founded America
A Search for Riches In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west on the Atlantic Ocean Columbus was looking for a short cut to Asia to open a trade route Columbus ended up in North America, a continent that had not been known to even exist during this time by the Europeans
A Map of the World in 1492
Hernan Cortes Cortes went to North America looking for gold and new lands In 1519 he met with Montezuma II the Aztec leader Cortes was a Spanish Conquistador , a conqueror, and caused the fall of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan He renamed Tenochtitlan, New Spain
Hernan Cortes
Naming California California was discovered by the Europeans in 1535 At first they thought it was an island and named it Alta California Lower California was a peninsula and was called Baja California Today, Alta California is in the United States and Baja California is in Mexico
Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo In 1542 he led an expedition looking for a waterway through North America After sailing North on the coast of Baja California, he landed in San Diego. He named it San Miguel Cabrillo also sailed to San Pedro, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and many other coast along the Pacific Ocean
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
Alta California’s Native Americans Some of the Native Americans in Alta CA were the: Kumeyaay Tongva Chumash
The Manila Galleon Spain captured some islands and renamed the islands the Philippines Ships called galleons transported silver from New Spain ( Mexico) to the Philippines then called Manila From Manila, silk and spices were traded with Spain Because Filipinos would sometimes travel on the galleons with Spain, the ships became known as Manila Galleons Queen Elizabeth I ( England) wanted to stop the Manila Galleons because it was making Spain rich.
Manila Galleons
Drake’s Voyage England and Spain were enemies Queen Elizabeth sent Francis Drake to get treasures from America Drake was English Drake stole treasure from Spanish ships Drake’s ship almost sank because it was carrying a lot of treasure. Drake had to fix his ship so he docked his ship in Alta California, he then said this land belonged to England but Spain still claimed the land
Sir Francis Drake
Sebastian Vizcaino Getting to Alta California from New Mexico was difficult because of the currents in the water Sebastian Vizcaino led an expedition going North from New Mexico to Alta California's coast He named some of the places he sailed by Santa Barbara Santa Catalina San Diego Monterey Bay which was a harbor that was ,”Sheltered from all the winds”. BUT, he was wrong about Monterey Bay
New Spain Stops Exploration Government of New Spain stopped sending explorers to Alta California because it was too difficult to reach by sea Traveling by land was also difficult because of the deserts and mountains