Overview
General Andrés Pico (Don Andrés), Commander of the Californios at the Battle of San Pasqual and later a state senator, 1878; photo: V. Wolfenstein, courtesy the Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley
Overview
The European drive to claim California began as early as 1542. On June 27 of that year, Spanish conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo set sail from the west coast of Mexico with a crew of Spanish sailors and African and Indian slaves. Over the next several months Cabrillo and his crew became the first Europeans and Africans to set foot in what are now knows as the San Diego and San Pedro bays. They traveled as far north as the Oregon border before returning to Mexico.
In 1579 British explorer Sir Francis Drake arrived on the coast of present-day Marin County. He claimed California for the Queen of England, but he left no settlers behind.
Over the next 200 years, the Spanish made plans to establish supply ports in California for Spanish galleons bound for the Philippines, but they were not successful.
By the 1700s, California was one of the last areas of coastal North America not colonized by Europeans. The great powers of Spain, Britain, and Russia all had their sights set on California. Spain hoped to be the first European nation to stake a legitimate claim on California and protect its existing colonies in Mexico.