Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
agreement with the viceroy of New Spain to
survey the unknown Pacific coastline to the
north. When Alvarado was killed in a skir-
mish with Indians in 1541, Cabrillo assumed
command of the project and sailed along the
western shore of Baja California. Beyond
the peninsula he touched upon the coast of
what is now U.S. territory near the present
site of San Diego. His landing place is now
included in the Cabrillo National Monu-
ment. He then continued northward and
passed the entrance of San Francisco Bay.
After his death fellow Portuguese navi-
gator Bartolomé Ferrelo led the ships on to
a point in the coast of what is now Oregon.
Before returning to Mexico Ferrelo gave
the name of Juan Rodrígues Island to the
spot on the Santa Barbara coast of Califor-
nia where his compatriot had died and was
buried, preserving the name by which he
was known to the Portuguese. A minor fig-
ure among the conquistadores, Cabrillo
nevertheless has the distinction of being the
first European to gaze upon the western
coast of the North American continent.
an actress whom he literally sought to res-
cue from the tomb. His
Noches lúgubres
(Somber nights), posthumously published
in 1789, commemorates this experience
and the depression that followed it. Cadalso
is most significant, however, as a keen
observer of Spanish society in an age of
decline. His most notable works in the
genre of satire and critical commentary are
Los eruditos a la violeta
(Men of false learn-
ing, 1772) and
Cartas marruecas
(Moroccan
letters, 1788-89). In the former he cleverly
exposes the pretensions and absurdities of
those who claim to instruct and lead Spain.
In the latter he employs the device of a for-
eign traveler, in this case a Moroccan, writ-
ing to his friends about the peculiarities
and shortcomings of Spanish society.
Although Cadalso's tone is often bitter and
even contemptuous of Spaniards' shallow-
ness, his Moroccan alter ego finds enough
instances of surviving honesty and charac-
ter in out of the way places to prove that
the author was still hopeful for a revival of
his nation's greatness.
Disillusioned though he might be over
the glories of war, Cadalso was at heart a
patriot. He returned to active duty during
the American Revolution and was killed in
action at the siege of G
IBRALTAR
, fighting
against the British. His
Cartas marruecas
were published posthumously on the eve of
Spain's entry into the great European revo-
lutionary struggle that would reveal the
truth about so many of Cadalso's criticisms
of his country's weakness.
Cadalso, José
(1741-1782)
Spanish writer
A widely traveled and sophisticated observer
of foreign languages and mores, Cadalso
followed the profession of arms in his
younger days, rising to the rank of cavalry
coronel during the Seven Years' War,
although he later claimed to have learned
to detest all wars. Like many contemporary
intellectuals, he dabbled in several fields of
literature, including poetry and drama, both
in the neoclassic style, without great suc-
cess. His reputation as a precursor of the
romantic school derives from his almost
manic reaction to the death of his beloved,
Cádiz
Believed to be the oldest city in western
Europe—settled by Phoenicians in 1100
B
.
C
.—Cádiz was a center of Mediterranean
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