Portola Expedition

The Portolá expedition was the first recorded Spanish (or any European) land entry and exploration of the present-day state of California, in 1769–1770, that led to the founding of Alta California.

Although it was already inhabited by Native Americans, the territory that is now California was claimed by the Spanish Empire in 1542 by right of discovery when Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific Coast of North America. This initial exploration by Cabrillo laid claim to the coastline as far north as forty-two degrees north latitude.

A competing claim was established for England by the privateer Francis Drake, who followed the route from the Philippines across the Pacific established by the Manila Galleons, reaching the California coast near Cape Mendocino and sailing south along the coast at least as far as Point Reyes in 1579. In 1596, a Portuguese captain sailing for Spain, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho (Spanish: Cermeño) explored some of the same coastline, leaving a description of coastal features. The Portolá expedition carried a copy of Cermeño's writings to guide them along the coast.

Cermeño was followed in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, whose coastal explorations in 1602 surveyed several California locations for future colonization, including San Diego, Santa Barbara and Monterey. Vizcaíno sailed north from Mexico (as Cabrillo had done), a much more difficult undertaking because of the prevailing winds and ocean currents.

After Vizcaíno, however, the Spanish Empire did little to protect or settle this region for the next 160 years, and accomplished almost no exploration by land. Affairs in Europe took precedence, keeping all of the maritime powers occupied. The little settlement achieved by Spain was the establishment of several missions on the Baja California peninsula by Jesuit missionaries.

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