The Island of California (Spanish: Isla de California) refers to the long-held global misconception, dating from the 16th century, that the California region was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by …

California was depicted as an island on maps from 1622 until the middle of the 18th century and beyond. This collection is the most comprehensive known covering the maps of this cartographic curiosity.

Feb 16, 2024 · Americæ Nova Descriptio, produced by Anne Seile (1) in 1663, showed California as a big, carrot-shaped island, floating off the coast of North America. McLaughlin, a venture capitalist in Silicon...

May 15, 2018 · California would appear as an island as late as 1865 on a map made in Japan (see very final image below). What on earth had happened? How had such a large piece of America been wrenched free? The Spanish clergyman Antonio …

Apr 20, 2024 · While a work of fiction, many believe it inspired the Spanish explorers in the region to name the “island” they discovered, which is now the Baja California Peninsula. On early 16th-century maps, California was, therefore, drawn as an island.

Jul 26, 2024 · California’s portrayal as an island is one of the most fascinating cartographic errors in the history of mapmaking. This enduring misconception spanned over a century. It was fueled by exploratory reports, misinterpretations, and the …

This map firmly embedded California as an island in the minds of cartographers of the day and helped perpetuate the myth of the island. The Dutch cartographers, however, continued to depict California as a peninsula, including Henricus Hondius, Willem J. Blaeu and Claes Visscher until 1638 when Visscher redrew his map to make California an ...

This case highlights some of the key maps that tell the story, starting with one of the earliest maps in the collection showing California as a peninsula, the Nueva Hispania…, followed by the Henry Briggs map that established the idea of California as an island.

Aug 25, 2021 · Even after Father Eusebio Kino depicted a peninsular map of California in 1705, mapmakers continued the myth of California as an island. In 1771, English cartographer Herman Moll stated, “California is undoubtedly an island. Why, I …

Aug 15, 2023 · Stanford University in Stanford, California, currently holds the world’s most extensive collection of maps of California as an island, with a staggering 800 maps in total! Why were there so many maps depicting California as an …