Ridiculous History – "Ridiculous Maps: That Time Everyone Thought California Was An Island" Podcast by iHeartPodcasts
Release Date: November 27, 2025
Hosts: Ben Bowlin (A), Noel Brown (C), Producer: Max Williams (B)

Episode Overview

This episode kicks off a new Ridiculous History mini-series spotlighting history’s most bizarre maps, beginning with one of the most famous cartographic mistakes: the belief that California was an island. Through a mix of humor, detailed storytelling, and deep dives into cartography’s missteps, Ben and Noel explore how fiction, rumor, and slow information flow created—and sustained for centuries—the myth of the Island of California.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Comedy of Errors: How Map Blunders Happen

• [06:36] Ben opens with his passion for maps, prompting Noel to share his Skyrim map story, revealing their shared affection for cartography’s quirks.
• Both hosts discuss how, in centuries past, limited travel meant most people never left a 30-mile radius from where they were born, leading to wild speculative mapping.
• Ben: “Making maps is very difficult. It’s easier now than ever. But… most of the cartographers of old were doing the best they could with the technology and the information they had.” [07:56]

2. Origins of the California-as-Island Myth

• [09:24] Introduction to the myth: Old World Auctions lists the California island error as a famous cartographic misbelief.
• The word "California" was fiction before geography—a creation of Castilian author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (1510), who described an island paradise inhabited by Black Amazonian women guarded by griffins and laden with gold.
• Noel: “They took it as a matter of fact. It's kind of like if you were an astronaut and all you knew about the moon was science fiction…” [13:32]

3. From Fable to (Incorrect) Fact: Early Explorations

• [13:32] Spanish explorers, inspired by Montalvo’s fiction, set out seeking California, unconsciously seeking to fulfill a myth.
• Story of the mutinous ship “Conception,” its leader Fortun Jimenez, and crew landing near modern-day La Paz. Survivors testified about "a crazy island way out to the left," capturing the attention of Hernán Cortés (1535).
• Ben: “…if you look at this part of the coast of North America, there is a long peninsular thing. So if you don’t have enough information, it might look like an island to you.” [15:51]

4. Rapid Debunking Turned Slow Correction

• [17:11] Shortly after the initial voyages, Spanish explorers like Francisco de Ulloa and Hernando de Alarcón proved it was a peninsula—though this truth was slow to spread.
• Noel: “Part of the problem here was that the area in question was incredibly difficult to explore by either land or sea…” [28:07]

5. How Myths Persisted: Friar Antonio de la Ascensión’s Role

• [20:05] The “game of telephone” begins: slow communication allows rumors to persist, especially when people (like Friar Ascensión) assert bold claims without proof.
• Ascensión, a charismatic but unqualified assistant cosmographer, declared California “the largest island known...discovered up to the present day” [24:07]—despite lacking evidence.
• The hosts riff on why explorers exaggerated: self-aggrandizement, national pride, and the power of a good story.

6. Entrenchment in Mapmaking and the Infamous Maps

• [25:30] Starting in 1622, maps world-wide begin showing California as an island—a belief so entrenched it appears on Japanese maps into the late 1800s, well after California became a U.S. state.
• Noel: “It’s like misprinted currency… kind of things are the holy grail for collectors.” [37:40]
• Notable historical maps mentioned:
  • Henricus Hondius's Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica Ac Hydrographica Tabula.
  • A slew of over 250 maps with the same error between 1622–1747.

7. Efforts to Set the Record Straight—and Resistances

• [28:39] The episode’s hero: Jesuit missionary and cartographer Eusebio Kino, who, after years of fieldwork (1698–1701), proved definitively that California is a peninsula.
• Kino’s quote: "I have discovered, with minute certainty and evidence...that California is not an island, but a peninsula or an isthmus…” [33:34]
• Despite Kino’s evidence, prominent European mapmakers (like Herman Moll) and the public resist correction—persistence fueled by copying previous maps instead of referencing new surveys.
• King Ferdinand VII, in 1747, finally issues a royal decree: “California is not an island.”

8. Why the Island Idea Lasted So Long

• Lack of firsthand knowledge, the slow correction of records, and the irresistible allure of the fantastical meant that for more than 200 years—even as new generations of explorers and monarchs tried to correct the record—California continued to "float" off the coast on maps.
• Ben: “The legend of a thing will outsell the truth of a thing, right?” [36:50]

9. Modern Resonance and Collector Culture

• Today, “Island of California” maps are prized collectibles—like rare misprinted currency.
• They symbolize cartography’s blend of speculation and romance, and the enduring human penchant for the fantastic over the factual.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On mapmakers’ earnestness:
  Ben: “Most of the cartographers of old were doing the best they could with the technology and the information they had.” [07:56]

• On the origin of California:
  “The idea or the name, the concept of California was invented before Europeans discovered the actual place called California…” – Ben [11:01]

• The literary myth:
  “In his description…he goes ham on this idea of an island paradise…populated only by…Amazonian black women who are protected by…griffins.” – Ben [11:41]

• Debunking myth, slow correction:
  “In the following years…a little bit more of a meticulous look at the the survey and decided that it was in fact a peninsula. Which seems to me to be a more obvious mistake than island because it's also not a peninsula.” – Noel [19:36]

• On how rumors become maps:
  “He…did not speak from authority…what he lacked in education and experience, he made up for in raw imagination.” – Noel [21:21]

• Kino’s evidence:
  “I have discovered, with minute certainty and evidence…that California is not an island, but a peninsula or an isthmus…” – Noel, quoting Kino [33:34]

• The power of myth:
  “The legend of a thing will outsell the truth of a thing, right?” – Ben [36:50]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:36] Maps and personal stories—why weird maps fascinate us
• [09:24] Introduction to the Island of California myth
• [11:01–13:32] Montalvo’s original fiction and its impact
• [14:30–17:26] Early Spanish explorations, initial confusion between peninsula and island
• [19:36–22:12] Experiments and eyewitnesses debunk island myth, but rumors spread
• [24:07] Friar Ascensión’s bold (but baseless) claims
• [25:30] Entrenchment of error in European and world maps (1622+)
• [28:07] Geographic and logistical difficulties in correcting the record
• [28:39–33:34] Eusebio Kino’s work to prove the truth
• [35:53] Royal decree of 1747 and slow adoption of facts
• [36:50] Debate on myth vs. reality and collector’s culture

Final Thoughts

Ben and Noel ultimately argue that historical cartographic blunders teach us about the limitations of knowledge, the endurance of myth, and human creativity—both intentional and accidental. California’s former “island-hood” is a cautionary tale about the leap from fiction to accepted fact, and a celebration of the wonderful weirdness lurking in the margins of history.

For more quirky episodes, listeners are encouraged to rate the podcast, contribute comments, and tune in for future explorations of ridiculous historical cartography.