January 3rd, 1542- Death

Today, January 3rd, 1542, is the day that the great explorer and discoverer of San Miguel, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, has passed away. Cabrillo died from the broken leg that he had been suffering from for several days. He had a fever, and had become very ill. He died on the island that he led the ships to, south of San Miguel, where a native had caused his death. He was unable to return back to Spain from his expedition to share his discoveries himself. He was the first European explorer to discover this uncharted territory that he named San Miguel and proved the myths of the Seven Cities of Cibola to be myth. Although Cabrillo did not discover a shorter route to Asia during his expedition, his exploration and findings that he accomplished during his journey are still great. He has changed the maps dramatically with the discovery of land which will be helpful to other explorations in the future. In honor of our brave captain, we continued to search a bit. The crew members led the ship up north, far past San Miguel, into a river within the land before turning back. Cabrillo will be forever remembered as making a change in history and making discoveries that have altered our maps and ideas.