The history behind the name of California begins when it was first used in a romance novel published in Spain (1510). The book was written by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo (1), translator of the Amadis de Gaul, and called Las Sergas de Esplandian, or Adventures of Esplandian.
It was shortly thereafter when a Spanish explorer, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and was the first to discover the Pacific Ocean in 1513. His discovery led to the governor of Cuba, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez, in 1517, to send a fleet of ships under Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba to explore the west in search of treasure. Cordoba found the Yucatan Peninsula and brought back reports of large cities.
The next year, Cordoba was followed by Juan de Grijalva who discovered New Spain (Mexico). Grijalva explored the Mexican coast from the Yucatan to what is now Veracruz. A third expedition of about 650 Spaniards sailed from Cuba under Hernan Cortés (Cortez)(2), in February 1519. Cortez's 11 ships followed Grijalva's route along the coast, effecting the conquest of New Spain in 1521. Cortez, in 1524, was the first explorer to mention California as a "great island of fabulous wealth," in his report to the King of Spain.
Ten years later, Fortuno Ximines sailed from the west coast of New Spain to explore this newly discovered "island" of California. However, his vessel never got farther north than Cape San Lucas. The next year Cortéz sailed up the Gulf of California.
Against the orders of the viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, Cortéz sent Francisco de Ulloa to explore the Gulf of California. In 1538, he sailed to the head of the gulf, reaching the mouth of the Colorado River, thus proving that lower California was not an "island" but a peninsula. This expedition is the first record of the name "California" being applied to the peninsula and appears in the map in Preciado's diary of Ulloa's expedition.
In 1540, Hernando de Alarcon, a Spanish navigator, also employed by Antonio de Mendoza, becomes the first European to touch lower or Baja California's soil and, upon entering the Gulf of California, ascends up the Colorado River for more than one hundred miles on an expedition of discovery. He was followed by Domingo del Castillo, in 1541, who explored the Gulf of California and charts its shores. He publishes a notable map of the Gulf and the Colorado River which is recognized as both accurate and authoritative.
However, it was reserved to Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to be the first European to actually set foot on the soil of Alta California in 1542.