September 28 – Cabrillo Day in California

Posted on September 28, 2020

San Diego, California, is a very nice place. It was 

nice even before a world-class zoo, a sea-life 

theme park, and a cage-free wild animal park 

were built there. It was nice before a huge park – 

a park with gardens and 17 museums devoted to 

everything from art and archeology to space and 

veterans – was built there.

Key Points

Why is it so nice? Great weather! Also, San Diego 

is on the Pacific coast – and it boasts lovely beaches, 

a wonderful natural harbor, and bits of rugged 

coastline – but it is close to mountains and deserts, 

as well.

Some of that was 

probably noted by 

Portuguese explorer 

Juan Rodríguez 

Cabrillo when he 

stepped foot in what 

is now San Diego 

on this date in 1542.

Cabrillo was sailing for Spain, and he was very much 

a product of his times. For example, he was a part of

conquering and ruthlessly enslaving native peoples,

“discovering” lands that were already occupied, and 

putting Spanish names on features that already had 

native names. The name he chose for the glorious bay 

we now call San Diego (also a Spanish name) was 

“San Miguel,” named after one of his three ships. He 

later named what we now call Santa Catalina Island 

“San Salvador” (after another of his ships), and what 

we now call San Clemente Island he dubbed “Victoria” 

(after his third ship!). 

He really had a thing for 

naming places after ships, 

didn’t he? I noticed that he 

DIDN’T try to name 

everything “Cabrillo Bay,” 

“Cabrillo Island,” and so 

forth. Nowadays, plenty of 

things are named for him, 

including a National 

Monument, a club for 

Portuguese Americans, a 

beach and aquarium, several schools, a highway, a bridge…

I know that Cabrillo would be pleased that a wooden 

steamer ship that was used as a ferry was called the 

SS Cabrillo!

Also on this date:

Birthday of Indian independence 

fighter Bhagat Singh  

Anniversary of the Norman Invasion

Day of Czech Statehood

Confucius’s Birthday

International Right to Know Day