Ealy Explorations of the Pacific Coast After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico one of Hernan Cortes’s conquistadores known as Rodriguez Cabrillo was propositioned by the Governor of Guatemala Pedro Alvarez. Antonio de Mendoza who was the first viceroy of Mexico appointed by Spanish King Carlos V developed a particular interest in the Pacific Coast, this led to Alvarez proposing Cabrillo an expedition to explore the Pacific Coast. The focus of this expedition was to focus on Asian trade (Conway, 2003). On June 27, 1542, Cabrillo embarked on his journey with three ships and about 100 men, their mission was to explore and chart the Pacific coastline and to search for the Strait of Anian (Conway, 2003). On September 28 Cabrillo and his fleet of ships anchored in Sandiego which he named San Miguel, Cabrillo took the initiative to formally establish Alta California which was separate from Baja California (Conway, 2003). In a report written by Cabrillo he claims to hav...