Fortún Ximénez - Citizendia

Fortún Ximénez (d. 1533) was Spanish sailor who led a mutiny during an early expedition along the coast of Mexico and founded the first known European settlement in Baja California. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The Baja California peninsula ( English: Lower California peninsula) is a Peninsula in western Mexico.

Ximénez was the pilot of a ship sent by Hernán Cortés in 1533 to travel north along the coast of New Spain from present-day Manzanillo, Colima, in search of two ships that had been lost without a trace on a similar voyage the previous year. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca ( 1485&ndash December 2, The Viceroyalty of New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España was a name given to the Viceroy -ruled territories of the Spanish Empire in North America, Manzanillo is a city as well as its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of Colima. The previous voyages had been in search of the mythical Strait of Anián and the Island of California, which according to a previously published romance novel in Spain, was supposedly a terrestrial paradise populated only by dark-skinned women. The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception dating from the 16th century that California was not part of mainland North America but During the voyage, Ximénez lead a revolt in the which captain was killed. The mutineers then landed near present day La Paz, on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, which the mutineers believed to be the Island of California. La Paz (Spanish for "The Peace" is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California The Baja California peninsula ( English: Lower California peninsula) is a Peninsula in western Mexico.

Ximénez was later killed by local Native Americans. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. The survivors returned to New Spain with the story of having discovered dark-skinned women and black pearls, which seemed to confirm the early legends of the Island of California. A pearl is a hard roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled Mollusk.

The stories of the survivors prompted several follow-up expeditions by Cortés in the following years.

See also