1. The First Europeans in California

2. Christopher Columbus Born in Italy Was an explorer
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain paid for his voyage across the Atlantic in hopes to find a shortcut to Asia
Founded America

3. A Search for Riches
In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west on the Atlantic Ocean
Columbus was looking for a short cut to Asia to open a trade route
Columbus ended up in North America, a continent that had not been known to even exist during this time by the Europeans

4. A Map of the World in 1492

5. Hernan Cortes
Cortes went to North America looking for gold and new lands
In 1519 he met with Montezuma II the Aztec leader
Cortes was a Spanish Conquistador , a conqueror, and caused the fall of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan
He renamed Tenochtitlan, New Spain

6. Hernan Cortes

7. Naming California California was discovered by the Europeans in 1535
At first they thought it was an island and named it Alta California
Lower California was a peninsula and was called Baja California
Today, Alta California is in the United States and Baja California is in Mexico

9. Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo
In 1542 he led an expedition looking for a waterway through North America
After sailing North on the coast of Baja California, he landed in San Diego. He named it San Miguel
Cabrillo also sailed to San Pedro, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and many other coast along the Pacific Ocean

10. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

11. Alta California’s Native Americans
Some of the Native Americans in Alta CA were the:
Kumeyaay
Tongva
Chumash

12. The Manila Galleon
Spain captured some islands and renamed the islands the Philippines
Ships called galleons transported silver from New Spain ( Mexico) to the Philippines then called Manila
From Manila, silk and spices were traded with Spain
Because Filipinos would sometimes travel on the galleons with Spain, the ships became known as Manila Galleons
Queen Elizabeth I ( England) wanted to stop the Manila Galleons because it was making Spain rich.

13. Manila Galleons

14. Drake’s Voyage England and Spain were enemies
Queen Elizabeth sent Francis Drake to get treasures from America
Drake was English
Drake stole treasure from Spanish ships
Drake’s ship almost sank because it was carrying a lot of treasure.
Drake had to fix his ship so he docked his ship in Alta California, he then said this land belonged to England but Spain still claimed the land

15. Sir Francis Drake

16. Sebastian Vizcaino
Getting to Alta California from New Mexico was difficult because of the currents in the water
Sebastian Vizcaino led an expedition going North from New Mexico to Alta California's coast
He named some of the places he sailed by
Santa Barbara
Santa Catalina
San Diego
Monterey Bay which was a harbor that was ,”Sheltered from all the winds”. BUT, he was wrong about Monterey Bay

17. New Spain Stops Exploration
Government of New Spain stopped sending explorers to Alta California because it was too difficult to reach by sea
Traveling by land was also difficult because of the deserts and mountains