Bartolomé Ferrer, also known as Bartolomé Ferrelo, was born in 1499 in the region of

Levante, Spain The Levante (; Catalan: ; "Levant, East") is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former , but has no modern geopolitical definition. Rather, it ...

, started his discovery voyages in Nueva Vizcaya, founded by de basc governor Ibarra , and died in 1550 in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. He was the pilot for

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (; 1497 – January 3, 1543) was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to explore presen ...

, the Portuguese captain who was sent by the viceroy of New Spain, with two ships in 1542 to explore what is now

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. Cabrillo's expedition was the first European exploration of the West Coast. The expedition started on June 27, 1542 from Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, and sailed along the coast up to '' Punta del Año Nuevo'', 37° 10' north of

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

. The vessels were tossed about, and often separated from each other by the bad weather. Cabrillo died on January 3, 1543, on San Miguel Island, near the channel of Santa Barbara; but Ferrer, who succeeded him in command, continued his discoveries northward up to lat. 43°, where he saw the coast of Cape Blanco, later called Cape Orford by

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

. Excessive cold, want of provisions, sickness, and the unsoundness of his vessel, forced him to return without reaching the parallel mentioned in his instructions. At 41° 30' he perceived a point of land to which, in honor of the viceroy, he gave the name of

Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino ( Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longit ...

. From this point he sailed back to La Navidad, situated at 19° 45', where they arrived April 14, 1543, and established the fact that the coast was one continuous line between these two points. In this voyage the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

often saw the

natives There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the country, who were almost naked and painted their faces. He said that “the Indians were weird but smart". They lived by fishing, and inhabited large houses. John William Last finds a full account of the expedition in the ''History of the Indias.'' Humboldt, in his work on Mexico, corrects several erroneous statements of the Dutch historian, which were drawn from the works of old Spanish writers, basing his corrections on certain documents that he had occasion to examine in Mexico.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrelo, Bartolome 1499 births 1550 deaths Spanish explorers of North America Spanish explorers of the Pacific People from New Spain Explorers of Oregon 16th-century Spanish explorers

See also

References