Califia
Encyclopedia
Calafia is a fictional warrior queen who ruled over a kingdom of Black
women living on the mythical Island of California
. The character of Queen Calafia was penned by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
who first introduced her in his popular novel entitled Las sergas de Esplandián
(The Adventures of Esplandián), written around 1500.
In the novel, Calafia is a pagan who is convinced to raise an army of women warriors and sail away from California with a large flock of trained griffin
s so that she can join a Muslim
battle against Christian
s who are defending Constantinople
. In the siege, the griffins harm enemy and friendly forces, so they are withdrawn. Calafia and her ally Radiaro fight in single combat against the Christian leaders, a king and his son the knight Esplandián. Calafia is bested and taken prisoner, and she converts to Christianity. She marries a cousin of Esplandián and returns with her army to California for further adventures.
The name of Calafia was likely formed from the Arabic word khalifa (religious state leader) which is known as caliph
in English
and califa in Spanish
. Similarly, the name of Calafia's monarchy, California, likely originated from the same root, fabricated by the author to remind the 16th century Spanish reader of the reconquista
, a centuries-long fight between Christians and Moslems which had recently concluded in Spain. The character of Calafia is used by de Montalvo to portray the superiority of chivalry
in which the attractive virgin queen is conquered, converted to Christian beliefs and married off. The book was very popular for many decades—Hernán Cortés
read it—and it was selected by author Miguel de Cervantes
as the first of many harmful books to be burnt by characters in his famous novel Don Quixote.
Calafia, also called Califia, has been depicted as the Spirit of California, and has been the subject of modern-day sculpture, paintings, stories and films; she often figures in the myth of California's origin, symbolizing an untamed and bountiful land prior to European settlement.
Calafia meets Radiaro, a Moslem warrior who convinces her that she should join him in retaking Constantinople from the Christian armies holding it. Calafia, in turn, convinces her people to take their ships, weapons, armor, riding beasts, and 500 griffins, and sail with her to Turkey to fight the Christians, though she has no concept of what it means to be Moslem or Christian. Her subjects arm themselves with weapons and armor made of gold, as there is no other metal in California. They fill their ships with supplies and hasten to sea.
Landing near Constantinople, Calafia meets with other Moslem warrior leaders who were unable to remove King Amadis and his Christian allies from the city, and she tells them all to hold back and watch her manner of combat—she says they will be amazed. The next morning, she and her women warriors mount their "fierce beasts" wearing gold armor "adorned with the most precious stones", advancing to invest the city. Calafia orders the griffins forward and they, hungry from the long sea voyage, fly out and maul the city's defenders. Sating their hunger, the griffins continue to snatch Christian men in their claws and carry them high in air only to drop them to their deaths. The city's defenders cower and hide from the griffins. Seeing this, Calafia passes word to her Moslem allies that they are free to advance and take the city. The griffins, however, cannot tell Moslem from Christian; they can only tell man from woman. The griffins begin snatching Moslem soldiers and carrying them aloft, dropping and killing them. Calafia questions her pagan faith, saying, "O ye idols in whom I believe and worship, what is this which has happened as favorably to my enemies as to my friends?" She orders her woman warriors to take the city's battlements and they fight well, taking many injuries from arrows and quarrel
s piercing the soft gold metal of their armor. Calafia orders her allies forward to assist the Californians in battle, but the griffins pounce again, killing Moslem men. She directs the griffin trainers to call them off, and the griffins return to roost in the ships.
This inauspicious beginning weighed heavily on Calafia. To restore their honor she directed her forces to fight alongside those of her allies, with the griffins kept in the ships. Terrific battles raged along the city's walls but the attackers were repulsed. Calafia led a picked group of women warriors to attack a city gate, one held by Norandel, the half-brother of King Amadis. Norandel charged out of the gate against Calafia; upon meeting their two lances were broken but the warriors remained standing. They struck at each other with sword and knife, and a general melee ensued, Calafia throwing knights from their horses and taking great blows on her shield. Two more knights charge forward from the city, nobles named Talanque (a nephew of King Amadis) and Maneli, a prince of Ireland. These men nearly swamp Calafia in blows, and she can only be pulled back to friendly forces by her sister Liota who attacks the two knights "like a mad lioness". The day's battle left many dead including 200 of Calafia's women.
The story continues with the arrival of several more Christian princes and their armies. Radiaro and Calafia issue a challenge to two Christian warriors to engage them in single combat for the purpose of deciding the battle. King Amadis and his son Esplandián accept the challenge. The black-skinned warrior woman chosen as messenger tells Calafia that Esplandián is the most handsome and elegant man that has ever existed. Calafia determines that she must see the man herself before engaging him in combat. She stays awake all night wondering whether to wear royal robes or warrior's armor. Deciding in favor of a thick golden toga embroidered with jewels, topped by a golden hood, she rode to meet her enemies, escorted by 2,000 women warriors. After being seated among the Christian kings, she immediately recognized Esplandián from his great beauty, and fell in love with him. She tells him she will meet him on the field of battle and, if they should live, that she wishes to speak further with him. Esplandián considers Calafia an infidel, an abomination of the rightfully subservient position of woman in relation to man, and he makes no response.
The next day, Calafia duels with King Amadis, and Radiaro duels with Esplandián. With Leonorina, his betrothed, looking on, Esplandián masters Radiaro with a flurry of weapon thrusts. Calafia and Amadis trade blows until he disarms her and knocks her helmet off. Both Calafia and Radario surrender to the Christians. While being held prisoner, Calafia acknowledges the astonishing beauty of Leonorina, daughter of the Constantinople emperor and the intended bride of Esplandián, and resolves not to interfere with their union. She accepts Christianity as the one true faith, saying, "I have seen the ordered order of your religion, and the great disorder of all others, I have seen that it is clear that the law which you follow must be the truth, while that which we follow is lying and falsehood." She marries Talanque, a large and handsome knight who fought with her outside the city gate; similarly, her sister Liota marries Maneli, Talanque's companion in arms. The women return to California with their husbands to establish a new dynasty complete with both sexes, under the Christian banner.
The first voyage of Christopher Columbus
in the late 15th century sparked a new interest in the search for "Terrestrial Paradise", a legendary land of ease and riches, with beautiful women wearing gold and pearls. Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
drew upon reports from the New World to add interest to his fantasy world of chivalry and battle, of riches, victory and loss, of an upside-down depiction of traditional sex roles. Around the year 1500 in his novel The Adventures of Esplandián, he writes:
The explorer Hernán Cortés
and his men were familiar with the book; Cortés quoted it in 1524. As governor of Mexico he sent out an expedition of two ships, one guided by the famous pilot
Fortún Ximénez
who led a mutiny, killing the expedition's leader, Diego Becerra, and a number of sailors faithful to Becerra. After the mutiny, Ximénez continued sailing north by northwest and, in early 1534, landed at what is known today as La Paz, Baja California Sur
. Ximénez, who reported pearls found, believed the land was a large island. He and his escort of sailors were killed by natives when they went ashore for water. The few remaining sailors brought the ship and its story back to Cortés. There is some dispute whether the land was named at this time—no record exists of Ximénez giving it a name. In 1535, Cortés led an expedition back to the land, arriving on May 1, 1535, a day known as Santa Cruz de Mayo, and in keeping with methods of contemporary discoverers, he named it Santa Cruz. It is not known who first named the area California but between 1550 and 1556, the name appears three times in reports about Cortés written by Giovanni Battista Ramusio
. However, the name California also appears in a 1542 journal kept by explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
, who used it casually, as if it were already popular. In 1921, California historian Charles E. Chapman theorized that Ximénez named the new land California but the name was not accepted by Cortés because Ximénez was a mutineer who killed Becerra, a kinsman of Cortés. Despite this, the name became the one used popularly by Spaniards, the only name used by non-Spaniards, and by 1770, the entire Pacific coast controlled by Spain was officially known as California. The Spanish speaking people who lived there were called Californio
s.
For many years, the de Montalvo novel languished in obscurity, with no connection known between it and the name of California. In 1864, a portion of the original was translated by Edward Everett Hale
for The Antiquarian Society, and the story was printed in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Hale supposed that in inventing the names, de Montalvo held in his mind the Spanish
word calif, the term for a leader of the Moslem people. Hale's joint derivation of Calafia and California was accepted by many, then questioned by a few scholars who sought further proof, and offered their own interpretations. George Davidson
wrote in 1910 that Hale's theory was the best yet presented, but offered his own addition. In 1917, Ruth Putnam printed an exhaustive account of the work performed up to that time. She wrote that both Calafia and California most likely came from the Arabic
word khalifa which means ruler or leader. The same word in Spanish was califa, easily made into California to stand for "land of the caliph", or Calafia to stand for "female caliph". Putnam discussed Davidson's 1910 theory based on the Greek word kalli (meaning beautiful) but discounted it as exceedingly unlikely, a conclusion that Dora Beale Polk agreed with in 1995, calling the theory "far-fetched". Putnam also wrote that The Song of Roland
held a passing mention of a place called Califerne, perhaps named thus because it was the caliph's domain, a place of infidel rebellion. Chapman elaborated on this connection in 1921: "There can be no question but that a learned man like Ordóñez de Montalvo was familiar with the Chanson de Roland ...This derivation of the word "California" can perhaps never be proved, but it is too plausible—and it may be added too interesting—to be overlooked." Polk characterized this theory as "imaginative speculation", adding that another scholar offered the "interestingly plausible" suggestion that Roland's Califerne is a corruption of the Persian Kar-i-farn, a mythological "mountain of Paradise" where griffins lived.
, groups of woman warrior
s who fought like men. As well, the story of an island paradise filled with gold and pearls was a recurring theme that de Montalvo was familiar with. In seeking new land, Spanish explorers were often led onward after hearing about a land of gold, or a land ruled by women. California historian Lynn Townsend White, Jr wrote that they considered the as-yet undiscovered California "a land of Orient with fantastic attributes". The novel about Esplandián and Calafia's domain had a strong influence on the searching Conquistador
s, who believed they might find a nation of women and riches somewhere at the edge of the known world.
In Greek mythology
, Amazons are described as a nation of female warriors who live in kingdoms outside of recognized civilization, women who fight with Greek warriors. They appear in many Greek tales including those by Homer
, and they are usually killed or otherwise subdued by male warriors. Male hostility to the woman warriors is expressed by Dictys of Crete
who wrote that an Amazon queen "transgressed the boundaries of nature and of her sex." Niketas Choniates, a medieval Greek
historian, wrote about women warriors who fought alongside men in the Second Crusade
, riding horses "unashamedly astride" (rather than modestly sidesaddle
), dressed as men and maintaining a very warlike appearance. Jacques de Vitry
, a bishop of Acre, Israel
, and a historian of the Crusades
, wrote about Amazons who fought who were stronger than men because their vitality was not "consumed in frequent copulation." In some stories, women warriors fought alongside Moslem men and in others they allied themselves to Christian armies.
Some of the tales of Amazons describe them as having dark skin. In Africa, King Musa I of Mali was protected by black female royal guard
s on his famous and influential hajj
to Mecca
in 1332. Johann Schiltberger
wrote in 1440 about a group of non-Caucasian Tatar Amazons, Mongol giantesses led by a vengeful princess. Columbus returned to Spain with the story of an island in the Lesser Antilles
called "Matinino" (perhaps modern Martinique
) that was inhabited only by women, a tale told to him by many of the natives of the West Indies. Columbus did not call the Matinino women "Amazons", but the comparison was drawn by his contemporaries.
When encountering natives in the New World
, Spanish explorers were occasionally told of a tribe composed entirely of women. One such tale was related to Cortés about a group of Amazons supposedly living in a province called Ciguatán. Juan de Grijalva
was told of Amazons during his 1518 expedition through the Tabasco
region of Mexico. Nuño de Guzmán followed tales of a nation of women who lived in riches on or near the sea, women with whiter skin who were accounted goddesses by the natives. He described how they used bows and arrows, and lived in many towns. Polk characterized Guzmán as driven by lust for sex and riches—his greed and sadism were well known.
wrote a book entitled La reina Calafia (Queen Calafia) in 1924. A 1926 portrayal of Queen Calafia and her Amazons is found in a mural in the Room of the Dons at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. It was created for the opening of the hotel in 1926 by Maynard Dixon
and Frank Von Sloun, and has been called "the first embodiment of Queen Califia" though criticized as showing her "haughty and aloof". In 1937, Lucille Lloyd unveiled her triptych
mural "Origin and Development of the Name of the State of California", also known as "California Allegory", which was displayed at the State Building in Los Angeles
until 1975 when the building was demolished for safety reasons. The paintings were archived, and in 1991 they were restored and mounted in the California Room of the state capitol
, room 4203, renamed the John L. Burton Hearing Room. The regal central figure shows Califia dressed in proto-Mexican finery, holding a spear in her left hand and examining a gyroscope in her right.
In November 1975, the Plaza de Toros Calafia was completed, a bullfighting arena in the city of Mexicali
, the capital of the Mexican state
of Baja California
. The arena is also known as la reina Calafia (Queen Calafia). At an outdoor park in Escondido, California
, the sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle
built her multiple-piece "Queen Califia's Magic Circle", dedicated in October 2003 after her death. The central character of Queen Califia is presented wearing gold glass armor atop a stylized giant bird. The final work on the sculpture garden
was overseen by de Saint Phalle's granddaughter and by her assistants and technical advisers.
In 2004, the African American Historical and Cultural Society Museum in San Francisco assembled a Queen Califia exhibit, curated by John William Templeton, featuring works by artists such as TheArthur Wright and James Gayles; artistic interpretations of Calafia. The show displayed a 1936 treatment of Lucille Lloyd's "California Allegory" triptych, with Queen Califia as the central figure. Templeton said that "Califia is a part of California history, and she also reinforces the fact that when Cortes named this place California, he had 300 black people with him." Templeton pointed out that Columbus had a black navigator and that Africans were seen by Europeans as being culturally advanced in the 1400s. Dr. William E. Hoskins, director of the museum, said that very few people know the story of Queen Califia. He said, "One of the things we're trying to do is let people have the additional insight and appreciation for the contributions of African Americans to this wonderful country and more specifically to the state of California", adding that "the Queen Califia exhibit is particularly poignant."
was a 23-minute film and multimedia experience showing the history of California through several recreated scenes, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg
as Califia, the Queen of California. A bust of Goldberg attired in queenly raiment was the target of a projected image showing Goldberg narrating the story—the sculpture appeared to come to life. The attraction, at Disney's California Adventure
at the Disneyland Resort
in Anaheim, California
, opened with the park on February 8, 2001. It closed to the general public on September 7, 2008, and was open only to school groups until March 2009. It was demolished in July 2009 to make way for the construction of a dark ride
called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure.
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
women living on the mythical Island of California
Island of California
The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by a strait now known instead as the Gulf of California.One of the most famous...
. The character of Queen Calafia was penned by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo was a Spanish author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance Amadis of Gaul, written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author...
who first introduced her in his popular novel entitled Las sergas de Esplandián
Las sergas de Esplandián
Las Sergas de Esplandián is the fifth book in a series of Spanish chivalric romance novels by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which began with Amadís de Gaula. The first known edition of this work was published in Seville in July 1510...
(The Adventures of Esplandián), written around 1500.
In the novel, Calafia is a pagan who is convinced to raise an army of women warriors and sail away from California with a large flock of trained griffin
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
s so that she can join a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
battle against Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s who are defending Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. In the siege, the griffins harm enemy and friendly forces, so they are withdrawn. Calafia and her ally Radiaro fight in single combat against the Christian leaders, a king and his son the knight Esplandián. Calafia is bested and taken prisoner, and she converts to Christianity. She marries a cousin of Esplandián and returns with her army to California for further adventures.
The name of Calafia was likely formed from the Arabic word khalifa (religious state leader) which is known as caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and califa in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Similarly, the name of Calafia's monarchy, California, likely originated from the same root, fabricated by the author to remind the 16th century Spanish reader of the reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, a centuries-long fight between Christians and Moslems which had recently concluded in Spain. The character of Calafia is used by de Montalvo to portray the superiority of chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
in which the attractive virgin queen is conquered, converted to Christian beliefs and married off. The book was very popular for many decades—Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
read it—and it was selected by author Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
as the first of many harmful books to be burnt by characters in his famous novel Don Quixote.
Calafia, also called Califia, has been depicted as the Spirit of California, and has been the subject of modern-day sculpture, paintings, stories and films; she often figures in the myth of California's origin, symbolizing an untamed and bountiful land prior to European settlement.
Character
In the book The Adventures of Esplandián, after many pages of battles and adventures, the story of Calafia is introduced as a curiosity, an interlude in the narrative. Calafia is introduced as a regal black woman, courageous, strong of limb and large in person, full in the bloom of womanhood, the most beautiful of a long line of queens who ruled over the mythical realm of California. She is said to be "desirous of achieving great things"; she wanted to see the world and plunder a portion of it with superior fighting ability, using her army of women warriors. She commanded a fleet of ships with which she demanded tribute from surrounding lands, and she kept an aerial defense force of griffins, fabulous animals which were native to California, trained to kill any man they found.Calafia meets Radiaro, a Moslem warrior who convinces her that she should join him in retaking Constantinople from the Christian armies holding it. Calafia, in turn, convinces her people to take their ships, weapons, armor, riding beasts, and 500 griffins, and sail with her to Turkey to fight the Christians, though she has no concept of what it means to be Moslem or Christian. Her subjects arm themselves with weapons and armor made of gold, as there is no other metal in California. They fill their ships with supplies and hasten to sea.
Landing near Constantinople, Calafia meets with other Moslem warrior leaders who were unable to remove King Amadis and his Christian allies from the city, and she tells them all to hold back and watch her manner of combat—she says they will be amazed. The next morning, she and her women warriors mount their "fierce beasts" wearing gold armor "adorned with the most precious stones", advancing to invest the city. Calafia orders the griffins forward and they, hungry from the long sea voyage, fly out and maul the city's defenders. Sating their hunger, the griffins continue to snatch Christian men in their claws and carry them high in air only to drop them to their deaths. The city's defenders cower and hide from the griffins. Seeing this, Calafia passes word to her Moslem allies that they are free to advance and take the city. The griffins, however, cannot tell Moslem from Christian; they can only tell man from woman. The griffins begin snatching Moslem soldiers and carrying them aloft, dropping and killing them. Calafia questions her pagan faith, saying, "O ye idols in whom I believe and worship, what is this which has happened as favorably to my enemies as to my friends?" She orders her woman warriors to take the city's battlements and they fight well, taking many injuries from arrows and quarrel
Quarrel
A quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in a crossbow. The name "quarrel" is derived from the French carré, "square", referring to the fact that they typically have square heads. Although their length varies, they are typically shorter than traditional arrows.Bolts and arrows have...
s piercing the soft gold metal of their armor. Calafia orders her allies forward to assist the Californians in battle, but the griffins pounce again, killing Moslem men. She directs the griffin trainers to call them off, and the griffins return to roost in the ships.
The story continues with the arrival of several more Christian princes and their armies. Radiaro and Calafia issue a challenge to two Christian warriors to engage them in single combat for the purpose of deciding the battle. King Amadis and his son Esplandián accept the challenge. The black-skinned warrior woman chosen as messenger tells Calafia that Esplandián is the most handsome and elegant man that has ever existed. Calafia determines that she must see the man herself before engaging him in combat. She stays awake all night wondering whether to wear royal robes or warrior's armor. Deciding in favor of a thick golden toga embroidered with jewels, topped by a golden hood, she rode to meet her enemies, escorted by 2,000 women warriors. After being seated among the Christian kings, she immediately recognized Esplandián from his great beauty, and fell in love with him. She tells him she will meet him on the field of battle and, if they should live, that she wishes to speak further with him. Esplandián considers Calafia an infidel, an abomination of the rightfully subservient position of woman in relation to man, and he makes no response.
The next day, Calafia duels with King Amadis, and Radiaro duels with Esplandián. With Leonorina, his betrothed, looking on, Esplandián masters Radiaro with a flurry of weapon thrusts. Calafia and Amadis trade blows until he disarms her and knocks her helmet off. Both Calafia and Radario surrender to the Christians. While being held prisoner, Calafia acknowledges the astonishing beauty of Leonorina, daughter of the Constantinople emperor and the intended bride of Esplandián, and resolves not to interfere with their union. She accepts Christianity as the one true faith, saying, "I have seen the ordered order of your religion, and the great disorder of all others, I have seen that it is clear that the law which you follow must be the truth, while that which we follow is lying and falsehood." She marries Talanque, a large and handsome knight who fought with her outside the city gate; similarly, her sister Liota marries Maneli, Talanque's companion in arms. The women return to California with their husbands to establish a new dynasty complete with both sexes, under the Christian banner.
Etymology
The first voyage of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
in the late 15th century sparked a new interest in the search for "Terrestrial Paradise", a legendary land of ease and riches, with beautiful women wearing gold and pearls. Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo was a Spanish author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance Amadis of Gaul, written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author...
drew upon reports from the New World to add interest to his fantasy world of chivalry and battle, of riches, victory and loss, of an upside-down depiction of traditional sex roles. Around the year 1500 in his novel The Adventures of Esplandián, he writes:
The explorer Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and his men were familiar with the book; Cortés quoted it in 1524. As governor of Mexico he sent out an expedition of two ships, one guided by the famous pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
Fortún Ximénez
Fortún Ximénez
Fortún Ximénez was Spanish sailor who led a mutiny during an early expedition along the coast of Mexico and is the first European known to have landed in Baja California....
who led a mutiny, killing the expedition's leader, Diego Becerra, and a number of sailors faithful to Becerra. After the mutiny, Ximénez continued sailing north by northwest and, in early 1534, landed at what is known today as La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2010 census population of 215,178 persons, but its metropolitan population is somewhat larger because of surrounding towns like el Centenario, el Zacatal and San Pedro...
. Ximénez, who reported pearls found, believed the land was a large island. He and his escort of sailors were killed by natives when they went ashore for water. The few remaining sailors brought the ship and its story back to Cortés. There is some dispute whether the land was named at this time—no record exists of Ximénez giving it a name. In 1535, Cortés led an expedition back to the land, arriving on May 1, 1535, a day known as Santa Cruz de Mayo, and in keeping with methods of contemporary discoverers, he named it Santa Cruz. It is not known who first named the area California but between 1550 and 1556, the name appears three times in reports about Cortés written by Giovanni Battista Ramusio
Giovanni Battista Ramusio
Giovanni Battista Ramusio was an Italian geographer and travel writer.Born in Treviso, Italy, Ramusio was the son of Paolo Ramusio, a magistrate in the city-state of Venice...
. However, the name California also appears in a 1542 journal kept by explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a Portuguese explorer noted for his exploration of the west coast of North America on behalf of Spain. Cabrillo was the first European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the United States...
, who used it casually, as if it were already popular. In 1921, California historian Charles E. Chapman theorized that Ximénez named the new land California but the name was not accepted by Cortés because Ximénez was a mutineer who killed Becerra, a kinsman of Cortés. Despite this, the name became the one used popularly by Spaniards, the only name used by non-Spaniards, and by 1770, the entire Pacific coast controlled by Spain was officially known as California. The Spanish speaking people who lived there were called Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
s.
For many years, the de Montalvo novel languished in obscurity, with no connection known between it and the name of California. In 1864, a portion of the original was translated by Edward Everett Hale
Edward Everett Hale
Edward Everett Hale was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills and at age thirteen was enrolled at Harvard University where he graduated second in his class...
for The Antiquarian Society, and the story was printed in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Hale supposed that in inventing the names, de Montalvo held in his mind the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word calif, the term for a leader of the Moslem people. Hale's joint derivation of Calafia and California was accepted by many, then questioned by a few scholars who sought further proof, and offered their own interpretations. George Davidson
George Davidson (geographer)
George Davidson was an geodesist, astronomer, geographer, surveyor and engineer in the United States.-Biography:Born May 9, 1825 in England, he came to the U.S. in 1832 with his parents, who settled in Pennsylvania...
wrote in 1910 that Hale's theory was the best yet presented, but offered his own addition. In 1917, Ruth Putnam printed an exhaustive account of the work performed up to that time. She wrote that both Calafia and California most likely came from the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
word khalifa which means ruler or leader. The same word in Spanish was califa, easily made into California to stand for "land of the caliph", or Calafia to stand for "female caliph". Putnam discussed Davidson's 1910 theory based on the Greek word kalli (meaning beautiful) but discounted it as exceedingly unlikely, a conclusion that Dora Beale Polk agreed with in 1995, calling the theory "far-fetched". Putnam also wrote that The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French literature. It exists in various manuscript versions which testify to its enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries...
held a passing mention of a place called Califerne, perhaps named thus because it was the caliph's domain, a place of infidel rebellion. Chapman elaborated on this connection in 1921: "There can be no question but that a learned man like Ordóñez de Montalvo was familiar with the Chanson de Roland ...This derivation of the word "California" can perhaps never be proved, but it is too plausible—and it may be added too interesting—to be overlooked." Polk characterized this theory as "imaginative speculation", adding that another scholar offered the "interestingly plausible" suggestion that Roland's Califerne is a corruption of the Persian Kar-i-farn, a mythological "mountain of Paradise" where griffins lived.
Legends of an island of women warriors
De Montalvo's description of Calafia, her people and her country was based upon many centuries of stories of AmazonsAmazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
, groups of woman warrior
Woman warrior
The portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...
s who fought like men. As well, the story of an island paradise filled with gold and pearls was a recurring theme that de Montalvo was familiar with. In seeking new land, Spanish explorers were often led onward after hearing about a land of gold, or a land ruled by women. California historian Lynn Townsend White, Jr wrote that they considered the as-yet undiscovered California "a land of Orient with fantastic attributes". The novel about Esplandián and Calafia's domain had a strong influence on the searching Conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s, who believed they might find a nation of women and riches somewhere at the edge of the known world.
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Amazons are described as a nation of female warriors who live in kingdoms outside of recognized civilization, women who fight with Greek warriors. They appear in many Greek tales including those by Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, and they are usually killed or otherwise subdued by male warriors. Male hostility to the woman warriors is expressed by Dictys of Crete
Dictys Cretensis
Dictys Cretensis of Knossus was the legendary companion of Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and the purported author of a diary of its events, that deployed some of the same materials worked up by Homer for the Iliad...
who wrote that an Amazon queen "transgressed the boundaries of nature and of her sex." Niketas Choniates, a medieval Greek
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
historian, wrote about women warriors who fought alongside men in the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
, riding horses "unashamedly astride" (rather than modestly sidesaddle
Sidesaddle
Sidesaddle riding is a form of Equestrianism that uses a type of saddle which allows a rider to sit aside rather than astride a horse, mule or pony. Sitting aside dates back to antiquity and developed in European countries in the Middle Ages as a way for women in skirts to ride a horse in a modest...
), dressed as men and maintaining a very warlike appearance. Jacques de Vitry
Jacques de Vitry
Jacques de Vitry was a theologian chronicler and cardinal from 1229 – 40.He was born in central France and studied at the University of Paris, becoming a regular canon in 1210 at the church of Saint-Nicolas d'Oignies in the Diocese of Liège, a post he maintained until 1216...
, a bishop of Acre, Israel
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
, and a historian of the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, wrote about Amazons who fought who were stronger than men because their vitality was not "consumed in frequent copulation." In some stories, women warriors fought alongside Moslem men and in others they allied themselves to Christian armies.
Some of the tales of Amazons describe them as having dark skin. In Africa, King Musa I of Mali was protected by black female royal guard
Royal Guard
A Royal Guard describes any group of military bodyguards, soldiers or armed retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person, such as Emperor/Empress, King/Queen, or Prince/Princess...
s on his famous and influential hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
in 1332. Johann Schiltberger
Johann Schiltberger
Johann Schiltberger was a German traveller and writer. He was born of a noble family, probably at Hollern near Lohhof halfway between Munich and Freising.- Travels:...
wrote in 1440 about a group of non-Caucasian Tatar Amazons, Mongol giantesses led by a vengeful princess. Columbus returned to Spain with the story of an island in the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
called "Matinino" (perhaps modern Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
) that was inhabited only by women, a tale told to him by many of the natives of the West Indies. Columbus did not call the Matinino women "Amazons", but the comparison was drawn by his contemporaries.
When encountering natives in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, Spanish explorers were occasionally told of a tribe composed entirely of women. One such tale was related to Cortés about a group of Amazons supposedly living in a province called Ciguatán. Juan de Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva was a Spanish conquistador. Some authors said he was from the same family as Diego Velázquez.He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511....
was told of Amazons during his 1518 expedition through the Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
region of Mexico. Nuño de Guzmán followed tales of a nation of women who lived in riches on or near the sea, women with whiter skin who were accounted goddesses by the natives. He described how they used bows and arrows, and lived in many towns. Polk characterized Guzmán as driven by lust for sex and riches—his greed and sadism were well known.
Legacy
Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco IbáñezVicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
wrote a book entitled La reina Calafia (Queen Calafia) in 1924. A 1926 portrayal of Queen Calafia and her Amazons is found in a mural in the Room of the Dons at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. It was created for the opening of the hotel in 1926 by Maynard Dixon
Maynard Dixon
Maynard Dixon was a 20th-century American artist whose body of work focused on the American West. He was married for a time to American photographer Dorothea Lange.-Biography:...
and Frank Von Sloun, and has been called "the first embodiment of Queen Califia" though criticized as showing her "haughty and aloof". In 1937, Lucille Lloyd unveiled her triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
mural "Origin and Development of the Name of the State of California", also known as "California Allegory", which was displayed at the State Building in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
until 1975 when the building was demolished for safety reasons. The paintings were archived, and in 1991 they were restored and mounted in the California Room of the state capitol
California State Capitol
The California State Capitol is home to the government of California. The building houses the bicameral state legislature and the office of the governor....
, room 4203, renamed the John L. Burton Hearing Room. The regal central figure shows Califia dressed in proto-Mexican finery, holding a spear in her left hand and examining a gyroscope in her right.
In November 1975, the Plaza de Toros Calafia was completed, a bullfighting arena in the city of Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
, the capital of the Mexican state
States of Mexico
The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...
of Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
. The arena is also known as la reina Calafia (Queen Calafia). At an outdoor park in Escondido, California
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...
, the sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle, born Catherine-Marie-Agnès-Brandon Fal de Saint Phalle was a French sculptor, painter, and film maker.-The early years:...
built her multiple-piece "Queen Califia's Magic Circle", dedicated in October 2003 after her death. The central character of Queen Califia is presented wearing gold glass armor atop a stylized giant bird. The final work on the sculpture garden
Sculpture garden
A sculpture garden is an outdoor garden dedicated to the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings....
was overseen by de Saint Phalle's granddaughter and by her assistants and technical advisers.
In 2004, the African American Historical and Cultural Society Museum in San Francisco assembled a Queen Califia exhibit, curated by John William Templeton, featuring works by artists such as TheArthur Wright and James Gayles; artistic interpretations of Calafia. The show displayed a 1936 treatment of Lucille Lloyd's "California Allegory" triptych, with Queen Califia as the central figure. Templeton said that "Califia is a part of California history, and she also reinforces the fact that when Cortes named this place California, he had 300 black people with him." Templeton pointed out that Columbus had a black navigator and that Africans were seen by Europeans as being culturally advanced in the 1400s. Dr. William E. Hoskins, director of the museum, said that very few people know the story of Queen Califia. He said, "One of the things we're trying to do is let people have the additional insight and appreciation for the contributions of African Americans to this wonderful country and more specifically to the state of California", adding that "the Queen Califia exhibit is particularly poignant."
Disneyland
Golden DreamsGolden Dreams
Golden Dreams is a film about the history of California. It was a featured attraction at Disney's California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opening with the park on February 8, 2001. It starred Whoopi Goldberg as Califia, the Queen of California. On September 7,...
was a 23-minute film and multimedia experience showing the history of California through several recreated scenes, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
as Califia, the Queen of California. A bust of Goldberg attired in queenly raiment was the target of a projected image showing Goldberg narrating the story—the sculpture appeared to come to life. The attraction, at Disney's California Adventure
Disney's California Adventure
Disney California Adventure, or simply California Adventure, is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001 as Disney's California Adventure Park. The park is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and...
at the Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Resort
The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.The area now...
in Anaheim, California
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
, opened with the park on February 8, 2001. It closed to the general public on September 7, 2008, and was open only to school groups until March 2009. It was demolished in July 2009 to make way for the construction of a dark ride
Dark ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride where riders in guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music, and special effects....
called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure.