Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (ca. 1499 – January 3, 1543),
João Rodrigues Cabrilho in
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
, was a
PortuguesePortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
explorer noted for his exploration of the west coast of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
on behalf of
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. Cabrillo was the first
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an explorer to navigate the coast of present day
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He also helped found the city of
OaxacaThe city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name . It is located in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín extending to the banks of the...
, in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Early life
Little is known about Cabrillo’s early years. His nationality was first addressed by contemporary Spanish chronicler
Antonio de Herrera y TordesillasAntonio de Herrera y Tordesillas , Spanish historian, was born at Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia.-Biography:His father, Roderigo de Tordesillas, and his mother, Agnes de Herrera, were both of good family...
, who, in his
Historia General de los hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano, referred to Cabrillo as
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo Português. For that reason, most biographies describe him as Portuguese. Still, historian Harry Kelsey, in his exhaustive 1986 biography
João Rodrigues Cabrillo, writes that Cabrillo appears to have been born in Spain, "probably in Seville, but perhaps in Cuéllar [curiously, hometown of Antonio de Herrera]." His date of birth was in 1499, but events in Cabrillo’s life lead Kelsey to believe he was born of poor parents "around 1498 or 1500," and then worked for his keep in the home of a prominent Seville merchant. Anyway, most sources regard him as Portuguese.
Voyages
Cabrillo shipped for
HavanaHavana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Cuban provinces. The city/province has 2.4 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.7 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean region...
as a young man and joined the forces of
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Later, his entrepreneurial skills, mining gold in
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
, made him one of the richest of the
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es in Mexico.
In 1539,
Francisco de UlloaFrancisco de Ulloa was a Spanish explorer who explored the west coast of present-day Mexico under the commission of Hernán Cortés...
, who had been commissioned by
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
, discovered the
Gulf of CaliforniaThe Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
, reaching as far north as the 28th parallel. Cabrillo was then commissioned by the new Viceroy of New Spain,
Antonio de MendozaAntonio de Mendoza, Marquis of Mondéjar, Count of Tendilla , was the first viceroy of New Spain, serving from April 17, 1535 to November 25, 1550, and the third viceroy of Peru, from September 23, 1551 to July 21, 1552...
, to lead an expedition up the Pacific Coast in search of trade opportunities, perhaps to find a way to
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(for the full extent of the northern Pacific was still unknown) or to find the mythical
Strait of AniánThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
(or
Northwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
) connecting the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
with
Hudson BayHudson Bay is a large body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. A smaller offshoot of the bay,...
. Cabrillo, who had started life as a shipbuilder's boy, built and owned the flagship of his venture (two or three ships), and stood to profit from any trade or treasure.
On 27 June 1542, Cabrillo set out from Navidad (now
AcapulcoAcapulco is a city, and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States...
) in New Spain. On 28 September 1542, he landed in what is now San Diego Bay and named it "San Miguel". Going up the coast, he sailed through the
Santa Barbara ChannelThe Santa Barbara Channel is that part of the Pacific Ocean which separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the city of Ventura....
and around
Point ConceptionPoint Conception extends into the Pacific Ocean in northwestern Santa Barbara County, California. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and the east-west trending part of the...
and as far north as the
Russian RiverThe Russian River is a southward-flowing river in the Northern California counties of Mendocino and Sonoma.-Course:The Russian River springs from the Laughlin Range about east of Willits in Mendocino County. It flows generally southward to Redwood Valley, then parallels U.S...
before autumn storms forced them to turn back. Coming back down the coast, Cabrillo entered
Monterey BayMonterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
, naming it "Bahia de los Pinos".
On 23 November 1542, the little fleet limped back to "San Salvador" (
Santa Catalina IslandSanta Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is 22 miles long and eight miles across at its greatest width. The island is located about 22 miles south-southwest of Los Angeles, California...
) to overwinter and make repairs. There Cabrillo stepped out of his boat and splintered his shin when he stumbled on a jagged rock. The injury developed
gangreneGangrene is a complication of necrosis or cell death characterized by the decay of body tissues, which become black and malodorous. It is caused by infection or ischemia, such as from thrombosis. It is usually the result of critically insufficient blood supply and is often associated with...
and he died on 3 January 1543 and was buried. His second-in-command brought the remainder of the party back to Navidad, where they arrived 14 April 1543.
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his men laid eyes on
San Miguel IslandSan Miguel Island is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands and the sixth-largest of the eight at , including offshore islands and rocks. Prince Island, off the northeastern coast, measures in area. The island, at its furthest extent, is long and wide...
in 1542. Upon claiming the island for the Spanish crown, Cabrillo named it “La Posesion.” Some stories say that Cabrillo wintered and died on San Miguel Island. No one knows where Cabrillo is buried, but there is a memorial commemorating the explorer on a bluff overlooking Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island.
A notary's official report of Cabrillo's inconclusive expedition was lost; all that survives is a summary of it made by another investigator,
Andrés de UrdanetaAndrés de Urdaneta was a circumnavigator, explorer and late Augustinian friar. As a navigator he achieved in 1528 the second world circumnavigation after first one led by Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano in 1522...
, who also had access to ships' logs and charts. No printed account of Cabrillo's voyage appeared before historian Antonio de Herrera's account early in the 17th century.
Legacy
His discoveries went largely unnoticed at the time, therefore none of his place names were permanently adopted. Despite this, Cabrillo is now remembered as the first European to travel the California coast, and many streets and buildings in California bear his name.
One such example is
Cabrillo CollegeCabrillo College is a two-year college offering associate degrees and certificates in more than 70 fields of study such as: engineering, computer science, allied health , public safety, marine biology and the visual and performing arts...
in
Aptos, CaliforniaAptos is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 9,396 at the 2000 census.Aptos is an unincorporated area of Santa Cruz county, consisting of several small communities...
, another is the portion of the
State Route 1State Route 1 , often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California...
that runs through
Big SurBig Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big country...
, which is also called the Cabrillo Highway. The
S.S. CabrilloThe SS Cabrillo was an old wooden steamer used to deliver tourists across California's San Pedro Channel to Santa Catalina Island.-The "Banning Era":...
was a great wooden steamer launched in 1914 to serve as a ferry across the San Pedro Channel to Santa Catalina Island. It was later requisitioned by the U.S. army and served as a troop transport all over San Francisco Bay and surrounding areas in Northern California during World War II. In San Diego, the
National Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
operates a monument,
Cabrillo National MonumentCabrillo National Monument is located at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event marked the first time that a European expedition had set foot on what later...
, overlooking the bay at
Point LomaPoint Loma is a seaside community of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town and the north by the San Diego River...
commemorating his first landing in California and offering views of both San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. The
Cabrillo BridgeThe Cabrillo Bridge in Balboa Park was the main access across Cabrillo Canyon built for the Panama-California Exposition. It was dedicated April 12, 1915 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Building began in December 1912 under the supervision of Frank P. Allen, Jr...
and Cabrillo Freeway running through San Diego's Balboa Park are also named for him. In Santa Barbara, scenic Cabrillo Boulevard runs parallel with the coast through the eastern part of the city.
There are also two high schools, one in
Lompoc, CaliforniaLompoc is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The population was 41,103 at the 2000 census.- History :Prior to the Spanish conquest, the area was inhabited by the Chumash tribe...
and the other in
Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a large city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about south of downtown Los Angeles. Long Beach borders Orange County on its southeast edge....
, as well as a school in
Malibu, CaliforniaMalibu is an incorporated city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population is 12,575....
and one is Santa Clara, California named for him. A middle school in San Buenaventura, (also known as
Ventura, CaliforniaSan Buenaventura, commonly referred to as Ventura, is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. Ventura has a population of 106,744. Ventura is accessible via U.S. Route 101, State Route 33, and State Route 126....
), Cabrillo Middle School, is also named for him. In northern California, the
Point Cabrillo LightPoint Cabrillo Light is a lighthouse in northern California, United States, between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of Caspar...
is also named after Cabrillo. In San Pedro, part of the City of Los Angeles, Cabrillo Beach and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium are also so named. A street in San Francisco is also named after him, next to Balboa Street.
Torrance, CaliforniaTorrance is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance's 1.5 miles of attractive beach coastline is less well-known than those of its immediate neighbors to the North, Redondo Beach, or to the South, Palos Verdes Estates...
also has a main street in its center called Cabrillo Avenue.
In 1992, the
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly...
issued a 29¢ stamp in honor of Cabrillo..
In the state of California, September 28 is officially "Cabrillo Day".
External links