What were the early Europeans up to in California?
Around 1565, Spanish ships began plying the Pacific, carrying Mexican silver to the Philippines to trade for the exotic goods of Asia. These `Manila galleons’ often took a northerly route back to the Americas to catch the westerly winds, and they sometimes landed along the California coast. The galleons were harassed by English pirates, including Sir Francis Drake, who sailed up the California coast in 1579. He missed the entrance to San Francisco Bay, but pulled in near Point Reyes (at what is now Drakes Bay) to repair his ship, which was literally bursting with the weight of plundered Spanish silver. He claimed the land for Queen Elizabeth, named it Nova Albion (New England), then left for other adventures. (He wrote that he left a brass plate nailed to a post to record his visit. A plate was supposedly found there in 1937-probably a fake-and is now in the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.) In 1596 the Spanish decided they needed to secure some ports on the Pacific coast, and sent Seb
