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Spanish explorers in the 16th century, when they first discovered the Baja California peninsula west of the Sea of Cortez, at first thought the peninsula to be a large island. The name "California" was applied to the supposed island, and was probably a reference to a mythical island land described in a popular novel of the time: Las Sergas de Esplandián.
The quote for the first mention (in old Spanish):
"Sabed que ala diestra mano de las Indias ouo una Isla llamada California mucho llegada ala parte del paraiso terrenal la qual sue poblada de mugeres negras sin que algun uaro entre ellas ouiesse: que casi como las amazonas …"
Their queen, Calafia:
In the novel, Calafia is a pagan who is convinced to raise an army of women warriors and sail away from California with a large flock of trained griffins so that she can join a Muslim battle against Christians who are defending Constantinople. In the siege, the griffins harm enemy and friendly forces, so they are withdrawn. Calafia and her ally Radiaro fight in single combat against the Christian leaders, a king and his son the knight Esplandián. Calafia is bested and taken prisoner, and she converts to Christianity.
And then, finally:
The name of Calafia was likely formed from the Arabic word khalifa (religious state leader) which is known as caliph in English and califa in Spanish. Similarly, the name of Calafia's monarchy, California, likely originated from the same root, fabricated by the author to remind the 16th-century Spanish reader of the reconquista, a centuries-long fight between Christians and Muslims which had recently concluded in Spain. The character of Calafia is used by Rodríguez de Montalvo to portray the superiority of chivalry in which the attractive virgin queen is conquered, converted to Christian beliefs and married off.
So it's named after a place in a fictional book that had no meaning of its own but is meant to sound similar to Caliph because it's an adventure book for Spaniards after the reconquista. But the people were pagan, not Muslim, and they were ruled by a queen, never a caliph.
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[–] clamhurt_legbeard 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
I notice he had nothing to back that up.
Meanwhile:
The quote for the first mention (in old Spanish):
Their queen, Calafia:
And then, finally:
So it's named after a place in a fictional book that had no meaning of its own but is meant to sound similar to Caliph because it's an adventure book for Spaniards after the reconquista. But the people were pagan, not Muslim, and they were ruled by a queen, never a caliph.
That's a far cry from "Land of the Caliph".