Cortés, as part of his plan for…
1533 CE
Cortés, as part of his plan for a detailed exploration of the Pacific coast, in 1532 had sent two ships north along the coast of Mexico in search of the Island of California, but the vessels had disappeared without a trace.
The Concepción, sent by Cortés and captained by Diego de Becerra, had set out November 30, 1533, to travel north along the coast of New Spain from present-day Manzanillo, Colima, in search of two ships that had been lost without a trace on a similar voyage the previous year.
The previous voyages had been in search of the "Strait of Anián" (the western end of the much-hoped-for Northwest Passage) and the Island of California, named for the mythical places in the romance novel by Castilian author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, Las sergas de Esplandián, published in Spain in 1510 and popular among the conquistadors.
The book described the Island of California as being west of the Indies, "very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons."
During the voyage, Ximénez leads a revolt in which the captain is killed.
The mutineers then lande near present day La Paz, on the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, which the mutineers believe to be the Island of California.
Ximénez is killed in a clash with the local natives.
The survivors return to New Spain with the story of having black pearls, which will prompt several follow-up expeditions of the "Island" of Santa Cruz, as Cortés names the peninsula, resulting in very short-lived pearl fisheries.