Explorations undertaken by Cortez. In that year Cortez sent out Ulloa with three ships to trace the Mexican coast northward. One of the three vessels was soon lost, but with the other two the mariner held his course until he approached the head of the Gulf of California. Tacking about he now passed along the shore of the peninsula to the cape which forms its southern extremity, which he rounded and sailed along the outer coast as far as Cedros Island, in latitude 28°. From this expedition Ulloa and his flagship never returned, although the surviving vessel reached Mexico in the following year. Cortez returned to Spain in 1540, and died there seven years later.
Alarçon's voyage. The romantic story of Coronado, familiar to all readers of American history, connects in an interesting manner with the exploration of the Pacific. At the time of Coronado's expedition, 1540, Mendoza, a rival of Cortez, was viceroy of Mexico. In order to increase the chance of Coronado's success Mendoza sent a fleet under Alargon to support the land expedition. Alargon reached the head of the Gulf as Ulloa had done before him, and, leaving his ships at the entrance of Colorado River, ascended the stream in small boats as far as its junction with the Gila. This proved that the land stretching toward the southwest was a peninsula, and not an island. The name California, now known to have been derived from a Sixteenth Century Spanish novel, was first applied to
in 1534. It was supposed to be an island. The attempt to plant a colony there failed.
