Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1497-3 January 1543) was a Spanish explorer who was best known for his exploration of California from 1542 to 1543. The "Cabrillo Highway" of coastal California is named for him.
Biography[]
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was born in Palma del Rio, Cordoba, Spain in 1497, and he was of Portuguese ancestry. He shipped for Havana as a young man and joined forces with Hernan Cortes in New Spain, becoming wealthy from his gold mining activities in Guatemala. He benefited from the encomienda slavery system, sending women and girls to his soldiers and sailors as slaves, and sending the men to mine for gold and to harvest materials needed for ship building. In 1539, he was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities, China, and the Northwest Passage. On 27 June 1542, he left Navidad with three ships, and he landed in the San Diego Bay on 28 September and named it "San Miguel"; a week later, he reached Santa Catalina Island and named it "San Salvador" after his flagship. He continued to explore the coast, and, in November 1542, his fleet returned to Santa Catalina Island. There, Cabrillo splintered his shin while stumbling onto a jagged rock during a Tongva attack, and he died of gangrene in January 1543.