Visiting the island of California in 1639

Let's time-travel back to 1639 and go to one of my favorite places, California. Back in those days mapmakers really had no idea that it wasn't an island, but other than that, there are a lot of places that you'll recognize if you're a Californian. I'll start with San Francisco, and end with San Diego.


I'm not enough of a California historian to know exactly what it says there, but you can distinctly see Francisco. By the way, back in those days the letter s was often written like that, like an f. I'm a little hazy about the next name, Punta de los Reyes, but I definitely recognize Monte Rey (Monterey), a beautiful town!

Carinda doesn't mean anything to me, but I've heard of Point Conception, and of course Santa Barbara, where I lived for a few years in the '80s. It says Canal de S. Barbara, which refers to the channel between the shore and the islands, like Catalina. Looks like there's another Point Conception, somewhere north of San Diego.

Nowadays if you go south of San Diego, you're no longer in California, so this is where I'll stop the tour. Thank you for visiting California in 1639 with me!

Images from the New York Library Digital Collections.

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