When Cabrillo's Ships Entered San Diego Bay
On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo's expedition entered the bay now known as San Diego Bay. The area was already the homeland of the Kumeyaay people.
A voyage north
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed north from Mexico along the Pacific coast. On September 28, 1542, his expedition entered a sheltered harbor in what is now Southern California.
A bay with a long history
The ships had arrived in the homeland of the Kumeyaay people, who had lived in the region for thousands of years. Cabrillo's arrival is a moment in the bay's recorded European history, not the beginning of its human history.
What was the bay called?
Cabrillo named the harbor San Miguel. The name San Diego was applied later, during Sebastián Vizcaíno's voyage in 1602.
Why September 28 matters
The date marks the expedition's arrival in a bay that would later become central to the history of San Diego. Its full story includes both the voyage and the Indigenous communities already living there.