Explorer sebastian vizcaino biography
VIZCAINO, Sebastian
VIZCAINO, Sebastian (), Spanish explorer of the California coast in and With four vessels including Manila galleons [shipsSan Diego; Santo Tómas; frigate Tres Reyes; and a lancha], and two hundred men and several Carmelite friars, he went as far north as Cape Mendocino, visiting many of the places Cabrillo had in Vizcaino is known to have anchored at Santa Catalina Island. He sailed into the Santa Barbara Channel on the eve of the feast day of Saint Barbara, December 4, and bestowed upon it the name of Canal de Saint Barbara. The map from his voyage named Santa Rosa Island “San Ambrosio,” but his ships did not land there. December 7 is the day of Saint Ambrosio. December 10 they landed at San Miguel Island "in Cabrillo's Harbor", named by him San Diego, in honor of his flagship. December 28, Vizcaino wrote to the Council of the Indies: “His Majesty, I have discovered many harbors, bays and islands, as far as the port of Monterey”
The earliest Spanish maps from the 16th century show a continuous coastline. Carmelite friar, Antonio de la Ascensíon, who accompanied Sebastian Vizcaíno on his West Coast expedition of , drew a map depicting California as an island around It is said that Spain knew it wasn't an island, but it was politically expedient for others to think it was. They weren't going to share what they knew with everybody else. Maps showing California as an island were circulated for over a hundred years. In , King Ferdinand VI of Spain issued a royal decree proclaiming, "California is not an island."
- Richman, Irving Berndine. California Under Spain and Mexico Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, , p. 22
Sebastián Vizcaíno
Spanish explorer
Sebastián Vizcaíno (c. &#;) was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Asia.
Early career
Vizcaíno was born in , in Extremadura, Crown of Castile (Spain). He saw military service in the Spanish invasion of Portugal during – Coming to New Spain in , he sailed as a merchant on a Manila galleon to the Spanish East Indies in – In , he was on board the Santa Ana as one of the merchants when Thomas Cavendish captured it, robbing him and others of their personal cargoes of gold.
The Californias
In , the disputed concession for pearl fishing on the western shores of the Gulf of California was transferred to Vizcaíno. He succeeded in sailing with three ships to La Paz, Baja California Sur, in He gave this site (known to Hernándo Cortés as Santa Cruz) its modern name and attempted to establish a settlement. However, problems of resupply, declining morale, and a fire soon forced its abandonment.
In , the Spanish viceroy in Mexico City, Gaspar de Zúñiga, 5th Count of Monterrey, appointed Vizcaíno general-in-charge of a second expedition: to locate safe harbors in Alta California for Spanish galleons to use on their return voyage to Acapulco from Manila. He was also given the mandate to map in detail the California coastline that Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo had first reconnoitered 60 years earlier. He departed Acapulco with three ships on May 5, His flagship was the San Diego and the other two ships were the San Tomás and the Tres Reyes.
On November 10, , Vizcaíno entered and named San Diego Bay. Sailing up the coast, Vizcaíno named many prominent features such as the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Point Conception, the Santa Lucia Mountains, Point Lobos, Carmel River and Monterey Bay (obliterating some of the names given these same features by Cabrillo in ). He was The articles in this section were written by several authors between and Many pages are identified as &#;under construction,&#; and additional essays were planned but not completed. These articles reflect the available information and historical perspectives of the authors and the time when they were written. They have not been revised or updated. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Monterey County Historical Society, its board, volunteers, or staff. by Gary S. Breschini, Ph.D. The account of Vizcaíno&#;s coastal expedition is related in Coastal Navigation and Exploration of the Monterey Bay Area. This account details his exploration only of the Monterey area. Sebastian Vizcaíno, leading a fleet consisting of the ships San Diego and Santo Tomás, and the frigate Tres Reyes, sailed past Carmel Bay and on December 16, rounded Punta de los Pinos (Point Pinos) and entered the harbor. They named the harbor after the viceroy of Mexico, Don Gaspár de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monte Rey, who had dispatched the expedition. They were the first known European explorers to reach Monterey. They went ashore the following day, and pitched the church tent under the shade of an oak whose branches touched the tidewater, 20 paces from springs of good water in a ravine. (This ravine was located about where the tunnel leading from Monterey to Cannery Row emerges.) Most of the sailers were suffering from scurvy. Many were seriously ill, and 16 had already died! In the shadow of this historic tree, the first recorded mass north of San Diego was celebrated by Father Andrés de la Asunción. The morning of December 17 was foggy, but the fog cleared as mass ended. After mass it was decided to send one of the vessels back to carry the sick and to report the expedition&#;s progress. Later that day the party set up camp on the shore, and remained in the area until January 3, The party worked on the ships, and on December 29, the San Tomás, carrying the sick, as we Sebastián Vizcaíno (b. ; d. ), Spanish explorer and cartographer of the Californias. A native of Estremadura, Vizcaíno was a cavalry commander in the invasion of Portugal in He went to New Spain in and became merchant-militia commander at Manila in He conducted explorations in connection with his pearl-fishing monopoly, in the Gulf of California, from June to November , founding La Paz on 13 September. Vizcaíno was general of an expedition that charted and mapped the Pacific coast of the Californias from 5 May to 21 February ; it also gave placenames from Cabo San Lucas to Cabo Blanco (in present-day Oregon). He was chief magistrate of Tehuantépec in and opened a supply route from Coatzocoalcos to the Pacific in After being granted an encomienda in the province of Ávalos in , Vizcaíno served as the first European ambassador and cartographer in Japan (March –January ). In October-November Vizcaíno repelled Dutch corsairs led by Joris von Spilbergen in Colima. After serving as chief magistrate of Acapulco (), he retired in to Mexico City, where he died. See alsoExplorers and Exploration: Spanish America. W. Michael Mathes, ed., Californians I: Documentos para la historia de la demarcación comercial de California, – (). W. Michael Mathes, Sebastián Vizcaíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean, – (). Cabezas, Antonio. El siglo ibérico del Japón: La presencia hispano-portuguesa en Japón (–). Valladolid: Instituto de Estudios Japoneses, Universidad de Valladolid: Secretariado de Publicaciones, Universidad de Valladolid, Camino, Mercedes Maroto. Producing the Pacific: Maps and Narratives of Spanish Exploration (–). Amsterdam: Rodopi, Martínez Shaw, Carlos. Spanish Pacific from Magellan to Malaspina. Madrid: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Secretaría de Estado para la Cooperación Internacional y para Iberoamérica, Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales, O'Donnell
Vizcaíno, Sebastián (–)
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