California was the name given to a mythical island in the popular early 16th century Spanish novel Las Sergas de Esplandián. When the Spanish started exploring the Pacific coast, they applied this name to the Baja California Peninsula. That name stuck. Spanish navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo became the first European in recorded history to sight the region that is present-day California in 1542.
Job Summary
California was the name given to a mythical island in the popular early 16th century Spanish novel Las Sergas de Esplandián. When the Spanish started exploring the Pacific coast, they applied this name to the Baja California Peninsula. That name stuck. Spanish navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo became the first European in recorded history to sight the region that is present-day California in 1542.
