1657 map of California and surrounds
1657 map of California and surrounds / by Nicolas Sanson
‘Why did Sanson think there was a large body of water on the west side? … The East side, you mean? The West is the Pacific, of course. California was originally, and for quite some time, thought by the Spanish to be an island, as it was first explored from the South and the Gulf of California next to Baja was assumed to surround it’