Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/113

CHRONOLOGY 87 never claimed it. If she had, what would have been the history of North America? In 1521 the Portuguese voyager Magellan (Magalhaes) had found for Spain the Philip- pines. So many of the ships which brought rich cargoes from these " Spice Islands " were waylaid by British plunderers, or were wrecked on the rocks- of the Alta California coast, that both Philip II and his successor, Philip III, began to show in- interest in the discovery of havens where these vessels might hide from tempests and pursuers. Vizcaino was despatched (1602) on this errand and reported the harbours of San Diego, San Pedro, Monterey and the Channel Islands. He christened Monterey for the Viceroy of Mexico, and gave the names they still bear to the harbours he re-discovered. After 1694 no more exploring parties were sent into Upper California. Fifty years elapsed be- fore the missionary campaigns of Mexico were carried into the long neglected territory to the north. In the meantime many English voyagers and the Russian, Vitus Behring, had aroused Spain's en- mity by hovering about the borders of her misty possessions. The coast above Monterey had been but roughly surveyed. Little was known of the Indians.