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Garcí Rodriguez Ordóñez de Montalvo (ND-ND) http://tinyurl.com/Montalvo

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Terrestrial Paradise

From Las Sergas de Esplandián, c. 1510.

Reader: Kevin Hearle

We all have our own versions of the California myth, but one of the most unusual came from the pen of a Spanish writer who never even set foot on Californian terrain.

In the early sixteenth century, Spanish novelist Garcí Rodriguez Ordóñez de Montalvo published Las Sergas de Esplandáan (or The Adventures of Esplandían), a tale of a knight who undertakes a heroic journey to an improbable place.

Know ye that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very near the Terrestrial Paradise and inhabited by black women without a single man among them and living in the manner of Amazons. They are robust of body, strong and passionate in heart, and of great valor. Their island is one of the most rugged in the world with bold rocks and crags. Their arms are all of gold, as is the harness of the wild beasts, which, after taming, they ride. In all the island there is no other metal. . .

In this island called California, with the great roughness of the land and the multitude of wild animals, are many griffins the like of which are not found in any other part of the world. In the season when the griffins give birth to their young, these women cover themselves with thick hides and go out to snare the little griffins, taking them to their caves where they raise them. . . .

It may be that Spanish explorers, familiar with Las Sergas de Esplandián drew on it for the name California, whose golden promise was well anticipated by de Montalvo's work.