How did California get its name ?
A. The name California probably comes from the name of a treasure island described in a Spanish tale of the early 1500’s. (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1963, Volumne 3, page 32). The following is from the book listed below. Most accounts give credit to Gracia Montalvo’s myth titled “Las Sergas de Esplandian” written in about 1510 to be the inspiration for the Spanish explorers giving California it’s name. THE ISLAND Know ye that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very near the Terrestial Paradise and inhabited by black women without a single man among them and living in the manner of Amazons. They are robust of body, strong and passionate in heart, and of great valor. Their island is one of the most rugged in the world with bold rocks and crags. Their arms are all of gold, as is the harness of the wild beasts which, after taming, they ride. In all the island there is no other metal. In this Island called California, which the great roughness of the la
The name California came from a knightly romance book that was published in 1510. It was about an island paradise near the indies where beautiful Queen Califia ruled over a country of beautiful black Amazons with lots of pearls and gold. Men were only allowed there one day a year to he;p perpetuate the race. Cortez`s men thought they found the island in1535, because they found the pearls. Later, Francisco de Ulloa found out that it was really peninsula.
