A 16th-century Spanish romance tells of an earthly paradise “to the right of the Indies,” with steep cliffs and rocky shores. In this island utopia, which like Atlantis and El Dorado is full of riches, “there was no metal but gold” and the rulers were all strong black women.
The name of this imaginary Eden was California.
The novel, “Las Sergas de Espandián,” by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo and published around 1510, is believed to be the first time the word “California” appears in print, and so I came across this old story in my reporting.
The novel is believed to be where the state’s name came from, Alex Vassar, a spokesman for the California State Library, told me, though the matter has not been fully settled. Surprisingly, little has been established about the origin of a name known throughout the world.
“There are numerous theories as to the origin and meaning of the word ‘California,'” he said in a 2017 legislative document. State of California sometime before the year 1541,” when it first appeared on a map.
Some scholars have suggested that the name came from the Latin words calida fornax, meaning hot furnace, or from a Native American phrase, kali forno, meaning high hill or native land. But the most widely accepted theory is that de Montalvo’s book was so popular in the 1500s that Spanish adventurers in the New World would have known about the California legend.
So when explorers Fortún Ximenez and Hernan Cortés sailed to the western side of Mexico, they apparently took the peninsula we now know as Baja California to be an island located exactly where de Montalvo’s book said “California” would be, east of Asia.
It took decades to correct the mistaken belief that California was an island, but the name stuck and became associated with much of the western tip of the continent.
Etymologically, de Montalvo’s “California” is believed to be related to the word caliph, meaning Muslim ruler or steward, which came from the Arabic spoken by the Muslim Moors who ruled much of Spain for centuries.
De Montalvo’s fictional land was ruled by a beautiful black warrior who led griffins into battle called Queen Calafia (sometimes spelled Califia). Often depicted as the spirit of California, Calafia is celebrated in a Depression-era mural by Lucile Lloyd that hangs in the State Capitol in Sacramento and another by Diego Rivera in San Francisco’s Club City.
“This state, which has spawned so many of its own myths, has its origins in myth,” wrote PBS SoCal. “Spanish explorers were looking for an ‘island dream’ when they named California. And hundreds of years later, people are still coming to California looking for their piece of the California dream.”
And before you go, some good news
The Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival, a community event celebrating the Northern California city’s relationship with its sister city in Toyokawa, Japan, will return this month for its 40th anniversary.
The festival began just a few years after the two cities formalized their relationship as sister cities in 1978. Held on the last weekend of April, the event celebrates the bond by highlighting Japanese food, culture and art. In addition to the usual anniversary events, this year’s event will also usher in the return of a student exchange program that was suspended at the start of the pandemic.
The festival will feature a range of activities and performances, including Taiko drumming groups, martial arts and dance performances, and student art exhibitions.
It will be held April 27 and 28, from 10 am to 5:30 pm, at Memorial Park in Cupertino, with indoor programming at the Quinlan Community Center and local senior center. The entrance is free.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumia
PS Here we go today’s Mini Crossword.
Maia Coleman, Halina Bennet and Sofia Poznansky contributed to California Today. The team can be reached at CAtoday@nytimes.com.
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