Cartography and California Cultural Landscapes

Dr. John Cloud
NOAA Historian of the Coast and Geodetic Survey

In the first part of his talk, Dr. Cloud, a historian for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, outlines the many theories about the routes taken by the people we know as Native Americans from what is now Alaska and Canada down into the western United States. He not only looks at overland routes, but also discusses the possibility of the first Americans arriving by watercraft along the “kelp highway.” In the second part of his talk, he presents information about the Russian explorers and the early settlement of the Pacific Coast of North America, including those who built Fort Ross on the Sonoma County coast of California. 

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Recorded: March 13, 2013