1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and there's Jerry out there, and this is 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: short Stuff California. Here we come right back where we 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: started from. I love California, as you know. It's uh. 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: I lived in l A, but I'd love northern California. 6 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: I think Emily and I have designs on maybe even 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: retiring there one day. Maybe there are people I don't know. 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: I mean, somewhere in Wine Country would be just lovely. Man, 9 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: that would be so nice. Now. I saw the soap 10 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: one time called Santa Barbara, and it looks real nice there. 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,239 Speaker 1: Santa Barbara is awesome. Um, yeah, I don't know. I mean, 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: it depends on what happens with with Ruby. You know, 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: we don't want to we've kind of pledged to follow 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: her around. Oh yeah, so I'm gonna tell her how 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: great San Francisco is. Take her there a lot. So 16 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: maybe she'll want to end up in San Francisco and 17 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: then we can be nearby in Sonoma or something. Yeah. 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: I'm sure she's going to love that. She's really going 19 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: to grow up to look forward to being really close 20 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: to her parents for her whole life. She's going to 21 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: end up a Republican in Michigan. Just you watch Mark 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: my words. Yeah, she does have a Detroit edge to 23 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: her nice So um, obviously, Chuck, we're talking about California 24 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: and where the whole thing got its name. Um, and 25 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,839 Speaker 1: apparently no one fully knows what we're going to talk about. 26 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Is a um An interpretation that's been around since the 27 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, but it's pretty pretty widely considered as the 28 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: correct answer. But no one wrote down like, this is 29 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: what California is named after, and some earlier attempts to 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: explain it is that it was derived from the Arabic 31 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: word caliph, as in Caliphate there's a Greek word called 32 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 1: callos that means beautiful. And then some people said, no, no, 33 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: it's after caliente, which means hot, and furnace, which is 34 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: means furnace. So California is a hot furnace, and everybody's 35 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: just like, just go back to bed rather lovely, actually 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: restart this day, man. Um. So there's this guy in 37 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: I think the eighteen forties or eighteen fifties who he 38 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: was like an amateur historian. He wrote a paper saying, um, 39 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: this is where I think California comes from are he said, 40 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: this is pretty good, man. Yeah, I think this makes 41 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Uh. There was an author named 42 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 1: Garcia Rodriguez de Montalbo of Seville, Spanish writer who wrote 43 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: a novel called I'm uh man, I was doing so 44 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: good Amadis de Gala or Amadis of Gaul, and Amadis was, 45 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: I guess, sort of an action hero of the time. 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: And the book was really big, so much so that uh, 47 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: Montalbo wrote a sequel to the book featuring the son 48 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: of Amadis uh Las Serga's Day Esplandian or the Exploits 49 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: of Esplandian. And this is just sort of a setup 50 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: of these books and a very kind of neat little 51 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: factoid that lies within. Yeah. Like these two books right here, 52 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: we're like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton all rolled together 53 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: like they reached in huge. I've heard it, like that 54 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: is it? They were huge? I've always said, but I 55 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: have no until just a minute ago, but I've heard it. 56 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: I've heard it as Christian. Let's say how about this. 57 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: Let's say Tom Clancy and um uh Laura Ingles Wilder 58 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: mashed together like that is the level of popularity that 59 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: these books had in the in the early sixteenth century, 60 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: I think um. And so we mentioned the first one 61 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: because the second one is where California possibly comes from, 62 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: or the name California comes from. Because in Las cergust 63 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: esplandian Um, the the a lot of the action is 64 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: the sacking of the town of Constantinople, held then by 65 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: the Turks by a bunch of different um countries and 66 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: nations and armies UM sacking the city together UM as allies. 67 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: And one of them is a group of basically Amazonian 68 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: women who bear a striking resemblance to the Amazons that 69 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: produced Diana Oka, a wonder woman. But in this case 70 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: these um these women were led these women warriors were 71 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: led by a queen Califia, so yeah, looks familiar. They 72 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: were very strong, They had pet griffins, and they fed 73 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: men to these griffins, so yeah, their male offspring got 74 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: fed to the griffins. Pretty cool story. I think it 75 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: was like the scum manifesto, that's right, which you can 76 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: find in the book The Stuff You should Note book. 77 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: That is so he described their homeland. Apparently the homeland 78 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: was called California, And if that's true, then that seems 79 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: pretty straightforward to me. Right, Yeah, it definitely does. But 80 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: the interesting thing is that that's not really the end 81 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 1: of the story. There's a lot more to it. And 82 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: this antiquarian basically said, here's here's basically proof, and I 83 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: think we'll we'll take a break and then talk about 84 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:55,679 Speaker 1: that in a minute. How about that sounds good? M hm, So, Chuck, 85 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: we were saying that, Um, in the book Let's Cergus 86 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: Indian that they mentioned that Queen Califia is from California. 87 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 1: That's the name of this mystical land where, um, there 88 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: are all these beautiful cliffs. They only metal to be found, 89 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: there is gold. And so all of the all of 90 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: the warriors under Queen Califia UM war like golden armor 91 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: and um, while they were flying around on their griffins. Um, 92 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: it was just kind of like this mystical place basically 93 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: paradise on Earth. Right. And so when the Spanish showed 94 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: up around the time that these books were at the 95 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: peak of their popularity, UM, we can assume that some 96 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: of them would be familiar with this wildly popular work 97 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: and the um land of California that was described in Yeah, 98 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: and that they might have literally brought these books over. Um. 99 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: The Spanish believed there's an area south uh in southern California, 100 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: kind of um, like as far south as you can get, 101 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,360 Speaker 1: called Baja California. And I think that's actually Mexico, right, 102 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: or is that part of California it is? Well, I 103 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: think there's Baja California and there's Baja Mexico, and I think, okay, 104 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: there's just like the border goes right through it. As 105 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: far as I know. I've never been down there. Um. 106 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: I always wanted to, but Emily and I were so 107 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: broke when we lived in l A that we didn't 108 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: do a ton of traveling throughout California. We did most 109 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: of that since we've moved, ironically, but um, Baja California 110 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: they thought was an island, just like the island where 111 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: Queen uh Califia or Califia lived in the novel, and 112 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: so they called, you know, these European colonizers called it California. Um. 113 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: They later learned that it was not an island. Actually 114 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: it's a peninsula and Baja means lower California. And then 115 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: the upper part was named as Alta California. UM. Not 116 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: to be confused with what we think of as northern, northern, 117 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: and southern California. It was literally like sort of what 118 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: we think of as Mexico and just California. Yeah, And 119 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: so initially when they came upon Baja, they thought Baja 120 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: was an island, not a peninsula. Didn't figure that out, 121 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: so they didn't call Baja Baja California. They just called 122 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,239 Speaker 1: it California because in the book, California was an island 123 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: as well, right, But it wasn't until that expedition where 124 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: they're like, oh, there's this thing just keeps on going, 125 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: um that they came up with Baja California and all 126 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: to California, and then all to California just became California. 127 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: That's what everybody calls California now, right. But it gets 128 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: a little more interesting too, because the word California goes 129 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: back supposedly even further. They think this book was written 130 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: in ten but apparently the author of the book based 131 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: part of it on the Song of Rowland, which is 132 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: a French poem written in the eleventh century about Charlemagne 133 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: in the eighth century. And in this poem, Charlemagne list 134 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: a bunch of people that he expected to like combat 135 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: him and come after him and rebel against him, including 136 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: men of Africa. This is in votes men of Africa 137 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:06,959 Speaker 1: and those of Califern or Califerni. Either way, c A 138 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: l I F E r n E. Califerni is with 139 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: the people in the ozarks called California today. Did you 140 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: have you've been thinking of that joke for the best day, 141 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: my friend, It literally rolled out of my brain. Kudos, kudos, 142 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:27,079 Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. So you've got Charlemagne worried about Califernie, 143 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: and people said, well, what is Califerni um in this 144 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: Song of Roland? And it turns out that at the 145 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: time when the Song of Roland was popular, um, would 146 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: you say the eleventh century, eleventh and twelfth century? I 147 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: guess eleven centuries when it was written, okay, so um, 148 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: people were very, very familiar with the town that was 149 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: basically called Californy, like they were. He was referring to 150 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: the author of the Song of Roland was referring to 151 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: a real place into what's today um Algeria, but at 152 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: the time was considered the Barbary Coast, and there was 153 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: a there were basically fortified settlements that were called generically 154 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:10,559 Speaker 1: Cola or calat and um. They often would be they 155 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,839 Speaker 1: combine that word meaning like today you call it, like 156 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: you know, fort josh if I founded it fortified town. 157 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: This virtually what we're talking about here. And one of 158 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: these particular places, actually very magnificent, seemingly wealthy place was 159 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: founded by a warrior named Benny Hamad Bennie Hammad, not 160 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: Benny like Benny Hill, ben I Hamad, and he named um. 161 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:37,680 Speaker 1: He was followed by a group called the Benny if 162 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,719 Speaker 1: Friend and Um. Now we kind of start to very 163 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: get the root of where California came from. That's right, 164 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: But Kela, I think Cola was just sort of a 165 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: prefix for a lot of different places right at the time. 166 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: The fortified town. It's like what we would say instead 167 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,319 Speaker 1: of fort they would they said Cola. Yeah, so Cola 168 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: if Rin, which could be sort of loosely looked at 169 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: as maybe California that actually crumbled in the twelfth century 170 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: after the Song of Roland, not too long after the 171 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: Song of Roland was written. And I guess they think 172 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: what I don't see as the connection. I mean, do 173 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: you think he lifted that all those years later for 174 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: his book? That seems a bit of a stretch. Yeah, No, 175 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: I don't know. I think so there this famous, this 176 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: North African city calla calla freen Um was very very famous, 177 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: like in Europe, Like the Europeans knew all about this. 178 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: It was almost like Um, like a city of gold almost. 179 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: It was extremely wealthy Um. So it's entirely possible that 180 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 1: it survived, you know, knowledge of this thing survived a 181 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: few hundred years or kind of morphed into Um. This 182 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: a generic term for like a paradise on Earth, so 183 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: like this guy might have just grabbed this term, possibly 184 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: without knowing its origin. But then what's interesting is that 185 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: got morphed into the state of California, and everybody forgot 186 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: that origin too, So it's basically a famous North African city. 187 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: Was cited in the song of Roland, which ended up 188 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: in the Las Sergas state as Blondean, which ended up 189 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: as the name for California. As far as we can tell, 190 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: I love it. I do too. I'm buying it big time. 191 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: I'll buy it twice on Sunday. Uh. And since I 192 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: said that everybody short, stuff is out. Stuff you should 193 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts 194 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,959 Speaker 1: for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 195 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.