Cabrillo’s Arrival in San Diego Bay in Search of a Mythical Waterway

Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo reached San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, during an expedition seeking a waterway believed to cross North America.

The voyage was part of a search for the Strait of Anian, a mythical passage that captured the interest of European explorers. They believed it could provide a route through the continent.

Cabrillo’s arrival in the bay was a real geographical encounter within a mission driven by an unproven idea. Reaching San Diego did not establish the existence of the passage he was seeking.

The episode illustrates how imagined routes helped shape European exploration. In pursuing the Strait of Anian, Cabrillo reached a place that would become part of the historical record of those voyages, even as the waterway itself remained mythical.