March 29, 2006

• California

  I was wondering about the origin of the name of California, so I looked it up on wikipedia. Result: Less than certain.

  In the early 1500s, it turns out, there was a novel published in Spain that talked about a sort of garden of Eden ‘to the west of the Indies.’ This place was called the island of California. This name was in the minds of those Europeans who ‘discovered’ the place.

  Prior to exploration north of the Baja peninsula, a European could be forgiven believing that California was an island, separated from the mainland by the Mare Calfornica, or California Sea. Maps of the time depicted the continent as separate from California. But after the exploration, the story of California as an island continued, right up into the mid 1700s.

  People like a good story, and maps were expensive to replace back then.

  And I have to say, I like the phrase ‘mythical geography.’ Which I’m linking to, because I like it.

  • 2:26 pm
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