TERRESTRIAL PARADISE Twenty-two years after Vasco Nunez de Balboa reached the Pacific Coast of Panama, Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes reached the land that would be named California. Montalvo had written, “On the right hand of the Indies is an island, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise.” So began the fantasies, supported by substantial realities that characterize the Golden State even into the present day. “California is a notoriously extraordinary place,” as Montalvo further noted, “its history has been largely influenced by these elements in its geography: its extreme isolation, its extraordinary climate, and the great diversity among its sub regions.” THE STATE NAME There is a great deal of conjecture on the part of historians as to when and by whom California was named. However, it is clear that California had become an established place name and location on the maps by 1541. Robert Greenhow says that the Spaniards named California in 1536, the year after the discovery of the peninsula by Cortes. It is the opinion of Dr. Edward Everett Hale that Cortes, when he discovered the peninsula in 1535, named it “California.” He bases his statement on Antonio de Herrera’s Historia General de los Hechos de los Casedlanos. Venegas says that the oldest use of the name of California is from Bernal Diaz, who applied it first to the bay alone, and finally to what is now the State of California. Before Cortes discovered the American California, the name appeared with precisely the present-day spelling in a Spanish romance called Las Sergas de Esplandian, written by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo and first published in 1510 or 1511. Montalvo’s romance named the supposed island “California.” Some think the name is derived from the Indian words Kali forno, a phrase used by the Baja California natives, signifying “high hills,” “mountain,” or “native land.” Still another theory is that the name came from the old Indian word for the peninsula, Tcha/ifaIni-a/ , meaning “the sandy land beyond the water.” (To be continued.) See CA1to30.pdf