1579
June 17 – Sir Francis Drake, during his circumnavigation of the world, lands in what is now California, which he claims for Queen Elizabeth I.  With an English claim here and in Newfoundland, it becomes the basis for English colonial charters which will claim all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from "sea to sea."  Drake's claim is called "Nova Albion" (meaning, New England), and subsequent maps will show all lands north of New Spain and New Mexico under this name.