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The precise etymology of ‘California’ has never been established, but there is wide consensus that it is a derivation of ‘Calafia,’ the hero queen of a 16th-century Spanish novel, who ruled a race of gold-rich black Amazons.

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NATIVE CALIFORNIANS

There’s plenty of archaeological and anecdotal evidence from early European visitors and later research to puzzle together a clear picture of the day-to-day lives of native Californians. There were only about 150,000 to 300,000 early Californians, but even back then they were a diverse bunch, belonging to more than 20 language groups with about 100 dialects between them. They lived in small communities and often migrated with the seasons from the coast to the mountains. Dinner was mostly acorn meal supplemented by small game such as rabbits and deer, and fish and shellfish along the coast.

By all accounts, they were a crafty people, making earthenware pots, fish nets, bows, arrows and spears with chipped stone points, and developing a particular knack for basket weaving. These baskets were made from local grasses and plant fibers and decorated with attractive geometric designs. Some were so tightly woven they would hold water. You’ll see some beautiful specimens at the Natural History Museum of LA County in LA and the Museum of Man in San Diego. Coastal and inland peoples traded but generally didn’t interact much, partly because they spoke different languages. Conflict was almost nonexistent. Native Californians had neither a warrior class nor a tradition of warfare.

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EUROPEAN DISCOVERY

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The website of the Historical Society of Southern California (www.socalhistory.org) has biographies, information on the region’s historical places and useful links to other websites on SoCal history.

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Following the conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century, the Spanish turned their attention toward exploring the edges of their new empire, fueled by curiosity, lust for power and, above all, greed. Tales of a golden island to the west circulated widely, and in 1542 the Spanish crown sent Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer and retired conquistador, to find it. The fabled land, of course, proved elusive, but Cabrillo and his crew still made it into the history books as the first Europeans to step ashore in mainland California – in today’s San Diego. He claimed the land for Spain, then sat out a storm in the harbor before sailing northward. Stopping over to check out the Channel Islands, he and his men got into a fight with the local Native Americans. Cabrillo broke a leg, fell ill, died and was buried on what is now the island of San Miguel. The Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego has some fascinating exhibits about the cantankerous explorer’s journey and is the second-most visited monument in the US after the Statue of Liberty.

The Spanish left California for about 50 years until they decided they needed to secure some ports on the Pacific coast, and sent Sebastián Vizcaíno to find them. Vizcaíno’s first expedition was a disaster that didn’t get past Baja California but in his second attempt, in 1602, he rediscovered the harbor at San Diego and gave it its present name.

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To learn more about Southern California’s missions, their cultural influence and their historical significance, log on to the California Missions website: www.californiamissions.com.

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MISSION IMPROBABLE

Everyone wanted a toehold on the west coast of the New World in the 18th century. Around the 1760s, as Russian ships sailed to California’s coast in search of sea-otter pelts, and British trappers and explorers were spreading throughout the west, the Spanish king finally grew worried that his claim to the territory might be challenged. Conveniently for him the Catholic Church was anxious to start missionary work among the native peoples, so the Church and crown combined forces and established missions protected by presidios (military forts).