2 Second half of the 16th Century

BEGINNING OF THE MANILA-ACAPULCO NAVIGATION

A little more than two decades after the expedition of Cabrillo and Ferrelo, in 1565, the commercial route to the Philippines was established and with it the Spanish Empire maintained dominance over the Pacific route to the East. Given that their European enemies were on the prowl and that the English privateers Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish would soon begin their attacks, the Hispanic monarchy sought to enable a port in Upper California from which the galleons traveling to Manila would be supplied and protected. Additionally, the Spanish sought to populate parts of the California coast and continue the search for the mythical islands of Rica de Oro (“Rich in Gold”) and Rica de Plata (“Rich in Silver”), as well as the Anian Strait or Northwest Passage to the Atlantic, whose existence had been speculated for several centuries.

After the expedition of Francis Drake in 1579, the Hispanic monarchy set out to protect what it considered its territory and the viceroys of New Spain sponsored successive expeditions north. Thus, from 1583 to 1584, Pedro Moya de Contreras, who was both Archbishop and Viceroy, organized an expedition captained by the mapmaker and navigator Francisco Gali, who had previously traveled to Macao in Asia, and on his return trip to Mexico had reached 37 degrees latitude on the coast of Alta California.

Three years later, in 1587, a new expedition was launched, this time supported by the Viceroy Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga, Marquis of Villa Manrique, and entrusted to Pedro de Unamuno. Unamuno had returned with his fleet from Macao along the same route as Gali, and traveled south down the coast of California, beginning at 37 degrees latitude, to the bay of San Lucas (likely present day Santa Cruz Bay or Morro Bay), of which he took possession. The hostility of the Chumash, however, caused them to return to the boat and navigate to the port of Acapulco.

It  seemed that the Spanish Crown and its New Spain representatives were deeply interested in the protection of their northern territories, and they were equally interested in the prospect of new expeditions and their defense of the California coast. This was amply justified, since in 1587 Cavendish captured a ship coming from Manila, the Santa Ana galleon, at the extreme south of California, near Cape San Lucas. However, and just a year after this, in 1588, the defeat of the Spanish Armada occurred at the hands of the English Navy. One of the consequences of this defeat, among many, was a change in the political strategy of the Spanish Monarchy in relation to its maritime expeditions. Among the restrictive royal orders that ensued was the suspension of demarcation trips of the coasts of California. Voyages were limited to those of the Sea of California, for pearl mining operations and exploitation. From there on, the scientific explorations carried out by Hispanic sailors began to have much more economic connotations and character. It is in these new economic interests that we can place the next voyage, carried out by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1596.

Sebastian Vizcaíno and Commercial Expeditions Along Baja and Alta California

Sebastián Vizcaíno came from a prominent Castilian family and served the Spanish monarchy from a very young age, even bringing his own weapons and horses when participating in a 1577 Spanish campaign against Portugal. In 1583 he traveled to New Spain (although his passenger record has not been found in the Spanish archives), three years later traveled from Acapulco to the Philippines, where he continued serving the Spanish monarchy until 1589. Upon returning to New Spain he became a prosperous businessman and merchant. This allowed Vizacaíno to focus on explorations of the South Sea (the Pacific). It was also in those years that he married Magdalena Orejón, with whom he would have two sons (Juan and Lorenzo), and a daughter (Ana).^[1]

Sebastián Vizcaíno made two trips to the coasts of Baja and Alta California, which were more commercial in nature and less scientific than the first explorations of the Northwest Coasts. Vizcaíno’s first journey to California took place under the mandate of the Viceroy of New Spain, Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey, in accordance with Philippe II’s proclamation, known as the Asiento y Capitulación del Negocio de las Californias.^[2] These instructions were related to the lucrative business of pearl fisheries in the northern coasts of the South Sea. A similar regulation, the Asiento y Capitulaciones para la Jornada de las Californias^[3] had already been established in 1593, stating that expeditions would start three years later and would be valid for twenty years.^[4] This first trip to the Californias was originally conceived as a voyage with the goals of exploration, commerce and population of the region. The expedition was documented in an account written by Vizcaíno himself, in which he recounted everything that happened after they left the port of Acapulco.^[5] Vizcaíno’s party left Acapulco with two ships, the  San Francisco and the San José, and a frigate, the Tres Reyes. The three vessels carried between 400 and 500 people, including married couples as well as seafarers and warriors. They traveled until they reached the northern latitude of 29 degrees, from where they had to return, both because of the problems they suffered in navigation and because of the fear of the approaching winter. Vizcaíno’s report describes the difficulties they encountered, the places where they recognized the existence of pearl resources, their encounters with Natives in the bay of Santa Cruz, the claiming of possession of the land they seized, the general denomination of the province as Nueva Andalucía, the places where the expedition members stayed and the names that they gave them (which were the bay of San Felipe and the islands of San Francisco and San Sebastián).

Both the  relation of this first voyage and the letters that Vizcaíno exchanged during the following years with the royal officials maintained the interest of the Spanish Crown regarding the Hispanic presence in the Californias. Of course, Vizcaíno did not fail to take advantage of the occasion in this correspondence to request the power to continue his discoveries and ask for favors for himself and his children.