The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along the ice free coastal islands of Brit
Vasco Núñez de Balboa claiming possession of the Pacific Ocean and the lands that touch it.
Spanish contact in British Columbia and Alaska
A billboard for a marijuana dispensary in Washington. Washington was one of the first two states to legalize the plant, and California is home to the largest cannabis producing region in the country.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
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Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to ex
History of the west coast of North America
…was ordered to make the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean from North America to the Philippines. A smaller number was placed under the command of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown. Cabrillo was ordered north along the west coast of North America to explore the expected coastal…
Posthumous depiction of Cabrillo
Monument to Cabrillo in Montalegre, Portugal traditionally considered to be his hometown.
Spain's Royal Chronicler, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, wrote that Cabrilho was a Portuguese navigator, c. 1615.
Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma in San Diego, California. It was donated to the state of California in 1939 by the Portuguese government.