Juan rodríguez cabrillo childhood facts

16th-century Iberian maritime explorer of North America

For the character from the Oregon Files novels, see Juan Cabrillo (character).

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (Portuguese: João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c.

1497^[1] – January 3, 1543) was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to explore present-day California, navigating along the coast of California in 1542–1543 on his voyage from New Spain (modern Mexico).^[2]

Nationality

Cabrillo's nationality – Spanish or Portuguese – has been debated more recently.

He was described as Portuguese by Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas; in his Historia General de los hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano, written 60 years after Cabrillo's death, Herrera referred to Cabrillo as Juan Rodrigue