Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was a
European explorer. Cabrillo set out from Navidad (now
Acapulco) in
Mexico on
June 27,
1542. He landed on what is now
San Diego Bay in
California on
September 28,
1542, and gave it its name. He also named
Santa Barbara, California. Cabrillo was looking for the Straits of Anián, which was supposedly a waterway that would allow passage between the
Atlantic and
Pacific oceans. Earlier he had helped to found the city of
Oaxaca in
Mexico.
Although his discoveries went largely unnoticed at the time, Cabrillo is remembered as the first European to travel the California coast, and many streets and buildings in California bear his name.
In San Diego, the National Park Service operates a monument overlooking the bay, commemorating his first landing in California and offering views of both San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.
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