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Present-day Baja California of Mexico was misrepresented in early maps as an island.This example c. 1650. Restored. The first European explorers, flying the flags of Spain and of England, sailed along the coast of California from the early 16th century to the mid-18th century, but no European settlements were established.
The 1562 map of the Americas, created by Spanish cartographer Diego Gutiérrez, which applied the name California for the first time.. California was the name given to a mythical island populated only by beautiful Amazon warriors, as depicted in Greek myths, using gold tools and weapons in the popular early 16th-century romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) by ...
The Province of Las Californias (Spanish: Provincia de las Californias) was a Spanish Empire province in the northwestern region of New Spain.Its territory consisted of the entire U.S. states of California, Nevada, and Utah, parts of Arizona, Wyoming, and Colorado, and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur.
Las Californias claimed by Spain under the governance of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, 1768–1804; Portolá-Crespí Expedition 1769–1771, Discovers Most of California Coast from San Diego to San Francisco, Claims Land for Spain. Pedro Fages 1st Expedition 1770 Discovers East San Francisco Bay, Salinas Valley & Santa Clara Valley.
The commanding officers prepared to dispatch the San Antonio back to Lower California New Spain, to report to viceroy de Croix and visitador Gálvez about the expedition. On July 1, just as the ship was about to sail, the Portolà/Serra party arrived in San Diego in good health, with 163 mules loaded with supplies.
Although today Buenos Aires at the mouth of Río de la Plata is a major metropolis, it held no interest for Spaniards and the 1535–36 settlement failed and was abandoned by 1541. Pedro de Mendoza and Domingo Martínez de Irala, who led the original expedition, went inland and founded Asunción, Paraguay, which became the Spaniards' base.
Expansion came through exploration and colonization expeditions led by Portolá (1769), his successor Pedro Fages (1770), Juan Bautista de Anza (1774–76), the Franciscan missionaries and others. Independent Mexico retained the division but demoted the former provinces to territories, due to populations too small for statehood.
Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as Nueva California ('New California') among other names, [a] was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula , it had previously comprised the province of Las Californias , but was made a separate province in 1804 (named Nueva California ). [ 1 ]