Origin of "California"

California State Name Origin

spanishconquistadors1541.jpg

Spanish conquistadors 1541

Spanish conquistadors - 1541 founding of Santiago de Chile (painted in 1887); public domain image on Wikipedia.

What Does "California" Mean?

The name California originates from the Spanish conquistadors, after Califia, a mythical island paradise described in Las Serges de Esplandian by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo ​(a Spanish romance written about 1510).  All State Name Origins

Baja California (lower California, which is now in Mexico) was first visited by the Spanish in 1533. What is now the state of California was called Alta California (upper California). 

California

Images

California USA (public domain image).

California USA

Videos

California - Fast Facts (Geography, Cities, History and More)