California as an Island in MapsThe first mention of California as an island is in Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo’s “Las Sergas de Esplandián,” published in 1510. This rendering, coming from Montalvo’s imagination, became firmly embedded on maps — California was depicted as an Island on maps in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was not until Father Eusebio Kino’s map entitled “A Passage by Land to California,” informed by his travels between 1698 and 1701, that this cartographic blunder was exposed. Even so, it took another half century for the the island to attach itself back on to North America on maps — the maps lagged behind reality and became a cartographic phenomenon that defied the science of mapping. The island of imagination won over terrestrial reality and resulted in some of the most beautiful maps ever produced. The entire collection of 711 maps is available online.