2. Queen Calafia’s Island Spain believed that California was an island until 1539-1540. The Spanish did discover that California was not an island but a peninsula. The Spanish were not able to settle the northern for 230 after they discovered California.
3. Queen Calafia’s Island California had a very wide diversity of Native Americans. These Natives included the Miwok, the Coast Miwok, the Costanoan, the Esselen, the Salinan, the Chumash, the Gabrielino, the Serrano, the Yokutalong with the Paiute, Washo, Mono, Panamint, the Tubatulabal, the Ute-Chemehuevi, the Luiseno-Cahuilla and the Yuman.
4. Queen Calafia’s Island This diversity would foreshadow the future diversity of California. The Natives of California were able to sustain themselves without having to war with other tribes. Without the need to fight over resources social structures did not develop. There were no hierarchies.
5. Law of the Indies In 1513 Vasco de Balboa fled from his creditors and took command of the Darien settlement. Balboa’s expedition discovered the Pacific Ocean in September of 1513. This gave the Spanish hope in finally making it to China and Japan. On September 20th of 1519 Ferdinand Magellan set sail on what would eventually be his circumnavigating the world.
6. Law of the Indies In 1538 Francisco de Ulloa was sent by Hernan Cortes to explore the sea between Mexico and California. Ulloa discovered that California was a peninsula and that there was a mammoth river reaching to the gulf. In 1542 Viceroy de Mendoza sent Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to explore Baja California. September 28 1542, Cabrillo first made European contact in San Diego then Monterey and San Francisco.
7. Law of the Indies On the island of San Miguel in 1542 Cabrillo broke his arm which would eventually become gangrenous. He would die after returning to San Miguel on January 3 1543. Bartolome Ferrer continued the expedition north to the California Oregon border.
8. A Troubled Territory In 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. When Mexico became a republic in 1824, northern and southern California were considered territories. This contrasted with the U.S. who annexed California in 1822. The United Mexican States resembled themselves after the U.S. as they also annexed the Californias.
9. A Troubled Territory Mexico tried to model itself after the U.S. and its separation of church and state. This did not work because Mexico was a puzzle of social, culture and psychological castes based on race, feudal land systems and native subjection. In 1831 the rancheros of Southern California revolted against Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Victoria.
10. A Troubled Territory On November 7, 1836 Juan Bautista Alvarado led a group of rebels and claimed California a free and sovereign state. Mexico responded by making California a department and named Alvarado the governor. By the 1830s the mission system had proven unsuccessful leading to only 7,000 Mexican citizens.
