[9] Lapela, in the parish of Cabril and a municipality of Montalegre (Portugal), is the region where allegedly the nickname "Cabrilha" originated.

[10][11] In January 2023, a new preprint (now peer reviewed and published in the Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies)[12] announced new documents about a Rodrigues family living in São Lourenço de Cabril around 1520.

Cabrillo shipped for Havana as a young man and joined forces with Hernán Cortés in Mexico (then called New Spain).

[15] He accompanied Francisco de Orozco to subdue the indigenous Mixtec people at what would eventually become the city of Oaxaca, in Mexico.

[citation needed] Cabrillo built and owned the flagship of his venture (three ships), and stood to profit from any trade or treasure.

While in Mexico, Pedro de Alvarado went to the assistance of the town of Nochistlán, which was under siege by hostile natives, and was killed when his horse fell on him, crushing his chest.

Part of the fleet was sent off to the Spanish East Indies under Ruy López de Villalobos and three of the ships were sent north under the command of Cabrillo.

Before the end of the month they had passed Baja Point (named "Cabo del Engaño" by de Ulloa in 1539) and entered "uncharted waters, where no Spanish ships had been before".

Coming back down the coast, Cabrillo entered Monterey Bay, naming it "Bahia de Los Pinos".

[23] On November 23, 1542, the little fleet arrived back in "San Salvador" (Santa Catalina Island) to overwinter and make repairs.

There, around Christmas Eve, Cabrillo stepped out of his boat and splintered his shin when he stumbled onto a jagged rock while trying to rescue some of his men from attacking Tongva warriors.

[24] A notary's official report of Cabrillo's expedition was lost; all that survives is a summary of it made by another investigator, Andrés de Urdaneta, who also had access to ships' logs and charts.

[28] His namesake son and heir, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo de Medrano,[29] was born in Guatemala in the year 1536 and died in 1592, Lima, Peru.

According to Kelsey, the "de Medrano" part of his name was only added later by himself, not by baptism,[30] however his research and biography of Cabrillo has been extensively criticized by Martin Torodash from Duke University in the Hispanic American Historical Review (1987).

The portion of California State Route 1 that runs from Las Cruces in Santa Barbara County north to San Francisco is called the Cabrillo Highway.

The SS Cabrillo was a wooden steamer launched in 1914 to serve as a ferry across the San Pedro Channel to Santa Catalina Island.

It was later requisitioned by the United States Army and served as a troop transport in northern California during World War II.

The construction of the replica was based on historical and archeological research into early Spanish and Portuguese shipbuilding techniques.

[62] The construction was carried out in full public view on the shores of San Diego Bay by professional boat builders, assisted by scores of volunteers.

The replica ship now sails on regular tours in the waters of the Southern California coast as an educational historical resource.

A faculty-led resolution delivered to Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein accused Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo of enslaving indigenous people and profiting from the genocide and exploitation of the indigenous, including through a gold mine the resolution states he owned and operated in Guatemala.