Why California is an Island 🏝️ on Old Maps

Maps from the 16th to the 18th century are riddled with errors, myths, bad theories, & lies but one really stands out amongst the others. For hundreds of years, California was depicted as an island.

If we go to raremaps.com and type in the Island of California, we see one map after another. I’m not counting every single map but there could be hundreds listed here. This may very well be the most widely published cartographic error in history.