Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T12:22:28.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Mythological Geography of California: Origins, Development, Confirmation and Disappearance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

W. Michael Mathes
W. Michael Mathes*
Affiliation:
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Heir to Greek and Roman culture, the revelations of Holy Scripture and the great commentaries upon it written by Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and lesser theologians and philosophers of the Middle Ages, the cultured European of the fifteenth century was content that the corpus of his knowledge was complete, and that within it was all that was necessary for a full understanding of the universe. Nevertheless, this satisfaction was greatly upset by the explorations of Christopher Columbus and his followers during the final decade of the century. The European discovery of extensive lands populated with theretofore unknown peoples, with a flora and fauna totally distinct from that of Europe, was, in all senses, a New World. In that this New World had not been incorporated into the extensive and well-defined knowledge of Western civilization, it was, therefore, open to any and all concepts conceivable to the imagination; everything was possible, even the very improbable.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , January 1989 , pp. 315 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Nordenskiold, A.E., Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography (New York: Dover Publications, 1973), pp. 35–38, 51, 72, 77, 93, 105, plates XXIX, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIXGoogle Scholar; Bagrow, Leo, History of Cartography (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964), pp. 32–34 Google Scholar; Quinn, David B., ed., New American World (New York: Arno Press, 1979), 1: 5–29.Google Scholar

2 Nordenskiold, op. cit., pp. 81, 91, 113, plates XXIV, XLIII, XLIV, XLVI.

3 de Gayangos, Pascual, ed., Libros de Caballerías (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1963), p. 539.Google Scholar

4 Cortés, Hernando, Cartas y documentos (México: Editorial Porrúa, 1963), pp. 191, 213.Google Scholar

5 Mathes, W. Michael, ed., Cortés en California, 1535 (Mexicali: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, 1978), passim Google Scholar; Burras, Ernest J., Kino and the Cartography of Northwestern New Spain (Tucson: Arizona Pioneers’ Historical Society, 1965), p. 27 Google Scholar; León-Portilla, Miguel, “El Primer Testimonio sobre el Valle de Mexicali,” Calafìa, 2 (die. 1973), pp. 49–54 Google Scholar; Ives, Ronald L., “La Ultima Jornada de Melchor Díaz,” Calafia, 2 (ago. 1973), pp. 18–21 Google Scholar; Mathes, W. Michael, “La Exploración del Río de la Buena Guía,” Calafìa, 2 (ago. 1973), pp. 15–17.Google Scholar

6 Nordenskiold, op. cit., pp. 113, plm Mate LII; Wagner, Henry R., Cartography of the North West Coast of America to the year 1800 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1937), 1: 18–19, 53–67Google Scholar, the original Santa Cruz manuscript is in the Royal Library, Stockholm; Wagner, Henry R., Apocryphal Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1931), pp. 5–6 Google Scholar; Burras, op. cit., pp. 27–28.

7 de Navarrete, Martín Fernández, Obras (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1955), 2: 365–469, III: 3–279.Google Scholar

Colección de Documentos Inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las Antiguas Posesiones Españoles de Ultramar (Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1886), 2: 136–138.

9 Cortés, op. cit., p. 235; Wagner, Henry R., Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century (San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1929), p. 125 Google Scholar; de Obregón, Baltasar, Historia de los descubrimientos antiguos y modernos de la Nueva España, ed. Mariano Cuevas (México: Archivo General de la Nación, 1924), p. 195.Google Scholar

10 Nordenskiold, op. cit., pp. 95, 120, 129, plates XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, LI; Wagner, , Apocryphal Voyages, pp. 5–6 Google Scholar; Wagner, , Cartography, pp. 53–67 Google Scholar; Wagner, , Spanish Voyages, pp. 126–127.Google Scholar Possibly Castaldi corrupted the place name “Aniu” (a land east of China) mentioned by Polo, Marco in his “Travels”. Latham, Ronald, ed. The Travels of Marco Polo (New York: Abaris Books, 1982), p. 217.Google Scholar

11 Temple, Richard Carnac, ed., The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake (London: Argonaut Press, 1925). passim Google Scholar; Nutall, Zelia, New Light on Drake (London: Hakluyt Society, 1914), pp. 213–215, 245–252, 323–342, 347–359Google Scholar; Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla AGI, Patronato 266, no. 6.

12 Wagner, , Spanish Voyages, p. 127.Google Scholar

13 Mathes, W. Michael, Sebastián Vizcaíno y la expansion española en el océno Pacífco, 1580–1630 (México: U.N.A.M., 1973), pp. 21–25.Google Scholar

14 Mathes, W. Michael, ed., California I: Documentos para la historia de la demarcación comercial de California, 1683–1632 (Madrid: Ediciones José Porrúa Turanzas, 1965), documento 3.Google Scholar

15 Idem, documento 2.

16 Mathes, , Vizcaíno, pp. 21–25.Google Scholar

17 Idem, pp. 25–30.

18 Idem, pp. 47–52.

19 Idem, pp. 53–54; Novo, Pedro y Colson, , Sobre los viajes apócrifos de Juan de Fuca y Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado (Madrid: s.e., 1881), passim.Google Scholar

20 AGI, Filipinas 18; Wagner, , Spanish Voyages, pp. 176–178.Google Scholar Rada was elected provincial of the Augustinian province of the Philippines in 1572. Rodríguez, Isacio R., Historia de la provincia agostiniana del Smo. Nombre de Jesús de Filipinas (Manila: Catholic Trade School, 1965), 1: 69, 159.Google Scholar

21 Mathes, , Vizcaíno, pp. 54–72.Google Scholar

22 Mathes, Californiana 1, documento 57.

23 Idem, documento 71.

24 Idem, documento 80.

25 Mathes, , Vizcaíno, pp. 81–82 Google Scholar; Novo y Colson, Sobre los viajes, passim.

26 Mathes, California I, documentos 88, 89, 92, 93; Mathes, , Vizcaíno, pp. 99–109.Google Scholar

27 Quinn, op. cit., IV: 190–297.

28 de Torquemada, Juan, Monarquía Indiana, ed. León-Portilla, Miguel (México: U.N.A.M., 1975), 2: 476–519.Google Scholar

29 Mathes, W. Michael, ed. California II: Documentos para la historia de la explotación comercial de la California, 1611–1679 (Madrid: Ediciones José Porrúa Turanzas, 1970), Documentos 1–19; Mathes, Vizcaíno, pp. 117–122.Google Scholar

30 Mathes, Californiana I, documento 177.

31 Wagner, , Cartography, p. 114 Google Scholar; Mathes, , Vizcaíno, 117–122.Google Scholar

32 Wagner, , Cartography, pp. 114, 128–129.Google Scholar

33 Archivo General de la Nación, México. Historia 2; Documentos para servir a la historia de Nuevo México (Madrid: Ediciones José Porrúa Turanzas, 1962), pp. 197–199.

34 Mathes, Californians II, passim.

35 Wagner, , Cartography, p. 138 Google Scholar; Schurz, William Lytle, The Manila Galleon (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1939), 235–238.Google Scholar

36 Burras, op. cit., pp. 27–28, 42–43, 45, 48.

37 Mathes, W. Michael, Fisher, Vivian C., Coronado, E. Moisés, eds. Obras Californianas del Padre Miguel Venegas (La Paz: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, 1979), 1: 184 Google Scholar; III: 19, 262, 304–307; IV: 22, 345, 347, 460, 467, 476–477, 495–499.

38 Burrus, op. cit., pp.67, 69; Bolton, Herbert E., ed. Anza’s California Expeditions (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1930), passim.Google Scholar

39 Page 221.

40 Mathes, , et al., Obras Californianas, 3: 287–432 y ss.Google Scholar

41 Wagner, , Cartography, p. 156.Google Scholar

42 Mathes, , et al., Obras Calif ornianas, 3: 237–287 Google Scholar; Wagner, , Cartography, pp. 158.Google Scholar

43 Wagner, , Cartography, pp. 156–58.Google Scholar

44 Cook, Warren L., Flood Tide of Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), passim Google Scholar; Wagner, Henry R., Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Santa Ana, California: Fine Arts Press, 1933), passim.Google Scholar

45 Cook, James, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean…in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780 (London: John Stockdale, 1784), passim Google Scholar; de La Perouse, Jean François Galaup, The Voyage of La Perouse Round the World, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788 (London: John Stockdale, 1788), passim Google Scholar; Gough, Barry M, Distant-Dominion (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980), passim.Google Scholar

46 Schurz, op. cit., pp. 235–238.

47 Parry, William Edward, The Arctic Voyages of Captain W.E. Parry (London: 1821–1828), passim Google Scholar; Ross, John, Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a North-West Passage…1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833 (London: 1835), passim Google Scholar; Novo, Pedro y Colson, , Historia de las exploraciones árticas hechas en busca del Paso del Nordeste (Madrid: Fortanet, 1882), passim.Google Scholar

48 Mecham, J. Lloyd, Francisco de Ibarra and Nueva Vizcaya (Durham: Duke University Press, 1927), pp. 113, 160, 171.Google Scholar

49 Mathes, Californiana I, documentos 80, 87, 177, 179, 180, 182, 182, 188; Californiana II, documento 38.

50 Mecham, op. cit., pp. 69, 90, 113, 160, 171, 233; Henige, David P., Colonial Governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970), pp. 313, 316.Google Scholar

51 Mathes, Californiana I, documentos 8–14; Wagner, , Apocryphal Voyages, 11–13.Google Scholar