If you are going to San Francisco... avoid the griffins!

California,

here I come! Yes, I’ve just booked the holiday of a lifetime to the Golden State, visiting Los Angeles and San Francisco. OK, I’ll stop boasting and get to my Query – what does the name California mean? – D. The word “California” comes from a romantic novel! However, this was no Barbara Cartland or Mills & Boon tale, rather a 16th Century tome written by Spanish author Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo. It had the rather lengthy title of Las Sergas Del Muy Esforzado Caballero Esplandian, Hijo Del Excelente Rey Amadis De Gaula, which translates as The Exploits Of The Very Powerful Cavalier Esplandian, Son Of The Excellent King Amadis Of Gaul. In the book, Montalvo describes an island which is close to the Garden Of Eden, which was full of gold and was ruled by strong Amazonian women. This island was also populated by griffins, a mythical beast, half lion, half eagle which the women kept as pets. Any man who somehow arrived on the island was immediately killed and fed to the griffins. Of course, the island was called California. During the 1500s, Spanish explorers, who knew of Montalvo’s book, discovered the peninsula now known as Baja California, and part of Mexico. Believing it to be an island, they named it California. So California is named after an island full of gold, a myth origin which came true with the California Gold Rush of 1848.