The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by the Mare Californica. One of the most famous cartographic errors in history, it predated European exploration of western North America and was propagated on many maps during that era, persisting for over two centuries despite contradictory evidence from later explorers. Such legends were usually infused with the idea that California was a terrestrial paradise, such as the Garden of Eden, in much the same manner as legends surrounding Atlantis.

The first known mention of the legend of the "Island of California" was in the 1510 romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián by Garcia Ordoñez de Montalvo, who described the island in the passage:

Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons.

It is probable that this description by Montalvo prompted early explorers to misidentify Baja California as the island in these legends.

In 1539, Hernán Cortés, prompted in part by the description by Montalvo, sent the navigator Francisco de Ulloa northward along the coast of North America in search of the island. Ulloa's expedition, as well the expedition of Hernando de Alarcón the following year, proved that Baja California was a peninsula, not an island, and maps published in Europe, including the subsequent maps by Gerard Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, correctly showed California as a peninsula.

Despite the early conclusive evidence, however, the island depiction on maps gained favor in the late 16th century. In 1592, the Greek navigator Juan de Fuca, after having explored the Gulf of California, reported the existence of a large opening on the coast of North America that possibly connected to the Atlantic Ocean, providing the route for the Northwest Passage. The opening he discovered though was none other than the Strait of Juan de Fuca that separates Vancouver Island of British Columbia. In 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino navigated the California coast with Father Antonio de la Ascension, who wrote a journal of the voyage describing California as separated from the mainland.

The first appearance of the Island of California on a map dates to 1622 in a map by Henry Briggs that became the standard for many later maps throughout the 17th century.

In 1705, the Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Francisco Kino proved that Baja California was a peninsula by walking from New Mexico along the entire Pacific coast of California. Subsequent maps in France began to display California correctly as a part of the mainland, but mapmakers in the Netherlands, Germany, and England continued to propagate the error until the mid 1700s. In 1746, an expedition to settle the issue was formed under the command of explorer Fernando Consag. Consag explored the west coast of Mexico until the Colorado River. This led in 1747 to Ferdinand VI of Spain issuing a formal decree that California was a part of the mainland.

See also: History of California

External links

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• California as an Island
• Philadelphia Print Shop Ltd. Maps of California as an island

History of California | Phantom islands

Île de Californie | Californië (eiland)