Mexico’s Lost Archipelago? The Curious Case of the Channel Islands

Do 8 islands off the coast of California really belong to Mexico?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to Mexico Unexplained, where we will explore the magic,
the mysteries, and the miracles of Mexico. This series presents
information based partly on theory and conjecture. The podcaster's purpose
is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the
only ones to the subjects we will examine. Here is
your host, Robert Bitto.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome and mibian Benitos to episode number four hundred and
twenty two of Mexico Unexplained, where we examine the magic,
the mysteries, and the miracles of Mexico. I'm your host,
Robert Bitto. The California Channel Islands, an eight island chain
off the coast of southern California, are a treasure of
natural beauty and ecological significance. Known in Mexico as the

(00:58):
Archipelago the or the Archipelago of the North. These islands
San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacappa, Santa Barbara, San Nicolas,
Santa Catalina, and San Clemente are today part of the
United States, with most forming the Channel Islands National Park

(01:19):
and others under US Navy control. Yet a persistent rumor
suggests that these islands were never properly ceded to the
United States under the eighteen forty eight Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
which ended the Mexican War. Could these oil rich islands,
visible from California's shores, still rightfully belong to Mexico. In

(01:42):
this episode of Mexico Unexplained, we will delve into the
history of the Channel Islands, explore the treaty's alleged ambiguity,
indulge in speculative scenarios of what might have been, and
ultimately resolve whether to affirm this archipelago's status as rightful
terracey of the United States. The story of the Channel

(02:03):
Islands begins long before the ink dried on the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo. For over thirteen thousand years, indigenous peoples
called these islands home. The Chumash primarily lived in the
northern islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Ana, Cappa,
and Tongva related groups inhabited the southern islands of Santa

(02:26):
Catalina and San Clemente. They navigated the Pacific in Planck canoes,
trading with mainland communities and thriving in a maritime culture.
Spanish explorers first encountered the islands in fifteen forty two,
when Juan Rodriguez Cabrio sailed along the California coast, but

(02:47):
colonization was minimal during the Spanish period from seventeen sixty
nine to eighteen twenty one. During the sixteen hundreds and
early seventeen hundreds, the island group was a haven for
British and Dutch buccaneers who preyed on the Spanish galleon trade,
and stories of buried pirate treasure on the islands have

(03:08):
lingered for centuries. The islands were considered part of Alta California,
the northernmost province of Spain's empire in the Americas, but
their isolation and perceived economic worthlessness limited development. When Mexico
gained independence from Spain in eighteen twenty one, the Channel

(03:30):
Islands became part of the new nation's Alta California territory.
Mexican governance, however, faced similar challenges. The islands were sparsely populated,
used mainly for fishing, sealing, and grazing. Governors issued land
grants to encourage settlement. Mexican Army Captain Andres Castillerro received

(03:53):
Santa Cruz in eighteen thirty nine, Josey and Carlos Carrillo
got Santa Rosa in eighteen four forty three, and an
American named Thomas Robbins was granted Santa Catalina in eighteen
forty six, on the eve of the Mexican War. These
grants aimed to spark ranching operations, but logistical difficulties stymied progress.

(04:16):
One intriguing episode from this era was Mexico's attempt to
establish a penal colony on Santa Cruz Island. In eighteen thirty,
the Mexican government contracted a US vessel, the Maria Ester,
to transport eighty convicts from Acapulco to Alta, California. When
San Diego and Santa Barbara refused to accept them, thirty

(04:39):
men were settled on Santa Cruz's north shore, now known
as Prisoners Harbor. Supplied with food and building materials, the
convicts struggled against harsh conditions and a fire that destroyed
their shelters. Desperate, they built rafts and fled to the mainland,
miraculously surviving the perilous journey. This failed experiment while a

(05:03):
footnote in history underscores Mexico's administrative claim to the islands
during its rule, by the eighteen forties, disease and colonial
disruption had decimated the Chumash and Tongva populations, ending their
millennia long presence on the islands. When the Mexican War
broke out in eighteen forty six, the Channel Islands, like

(05:26):
the rest of Alta, California, were caught in the crosshairs
of a conflict that would reshape North America. The Mexican
War from eighteen forty six to eighteen forty eight was
a devastating chapter for the Nation of Mexico, culminating in
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February second, eighteen
forty eight. The treaty ceeded over fifty percent of Mexico's

(05:51):
territory to the United States, including modern day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
New Mexico, and parts of other states, in exchange for
fifteen million dollars and the assumption of three point two
five million dollars in Mexican debts owed to American citizens.
Article five of the treaty defined the new US Mexico border,

(06:15):
tracing it from the Gulf of Mexico along the Rio Grande,
across deserts, and to the Pacific Ocean, ending at a
point on the coast of the Pacific Ocean distant one
Marine League, due south of the southernmost point of the
Port of San Diego end. This description, while precise for

(06:36):
the mainland, has fueled speculation about the Channel Islands. The
treaty does not explicitly mention the islands, leading some to
argue they were overlooked in the session. The eighteen forty
seven Disternell map, referenced during treaty negotiations, depicted all to
California as including its coastal islands, suggesting the negotiation intended

(07:00):
to transfer them to the US. However, the lack of
a specific mention in Article five created a perceived loophole,
sparking claims that the islands remained Mexican territory. In eighteen
ninety four, Mexican geographer Esteban Chazari seized on this ambiguity

(07:21):
in a speech to the Mexican Society for Geography and Statistics,
founded in eighteen thirty three as the first geographical society
in the Americas. Chazari argued that the Channel Islands were
quote completely outside of the boundary line established by the
United States end and beyond US territorial waters, which then

(07:44):
extended only three miles from the coast. He pointed to
Mexico's land grants in the eighteen thirties to eighteen forties
as evidence of active sovereignty, contrasting this with the US's
lack of military occupation of the islands in the eighteen fifties.
Calling the treaty the result of the most unjust of wars,

(08:06):
Chasari urged President Porphyrio Dias to reclaim the islands, which
he believed were being invaded by American squatters. The Society
supported his call, petitioning Dias, but no action followed. The
ambiguity of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo inspired various groups

(08:26):
to challenge the island's status. In the eighteen nineties, Civil
War veteran William Waters declared himself the King of San
Miguel Island, resisting US surveyors by citing the treaty's vague wording.
Decades later, rancher Herbert Lester echoed this defiance, proclaiming his
own kingdom on San Miguel Lester's reign over the island

(08:50):
as self appointed monarch was even featured in a nineteen
thirty's photo feature in Life magazine. These eccentric claims by
Americans war or less about Mexican sovereignty and treaty interpretation
and more about exploiting legal uncertainty for personal gain. In
the nineteen forties, Mexico briefly revisited the issue. President Manuel

(09:14):
Avila Camacho formed a commission of geographers, jurists, and historians
to study potential claims to the Channel Islands. The nineteen
forty four to nineteen forty seven Avila Camacho Commission produced
a weighty four hundred page report delivered to President Miguel
Aliman in nineteen forty seven, concluding that Mexico lacked legal

(09:38):
grounds to claim the islands. Fearing public backlash, the government
classified the findings, a decision that fueled speculation and kept
the rumor alive. There were also challenges to US rule
over the islands coming from Mexican, American and indigenous groups.
In nineteen seventy two, the Brown Berets, a Chicano activist

(10:01):
group formed to combat anti Mexican discrimination occupied Santa Catalina
Island for twenty four days. Led by co founder David Sanchez,
the group raised the Mexican flag over the sleepy port
city of Avalon, citing the treaty's ambiguity to protest poor
living conditions for Mexican Americans. Though evicted by riot police,

(10:26):
their action drew attention to the island's contested history. The Chumash,
descendants of the island's original inhabitants, also invoked the vagueness
of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In a nineteen eighty
six legal case, Chumash plaintiff Chuoni Francis Herrera argued that
the islands were not formally ceded to the US, and

(10:48):
that the pre colonial presence of the Chumash bolstered their claim.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected this,
affirming that neither the United Das States nor Mexico has
ever contested the inclusion of the islands as part of California. Endue,
what if the Channel Islands had remained Mexican territory. Imagine

(11:11):
a maritime border running between California's mainland and the islands.
With Tijuana administering San Clemente and Santa Catalina, Mexico would
control a strategic archipelago rich and oil deposits that fueled
a boom until the nineteen sixty nine Santa Barbara oil spill.

(11:31):
This could have shifted the US Mexico border northward, making
the Channel Islands Latin America's northernmost frontier. Oil production would
likely be a Mexican priority, mirroring tensions seen in cross
border pollution issues like those in Tijuana and San Diego.
The island's proximity to Los Angeles and San Diego might

(11:54):
have sparked diplomatic frictions, with fishing rights and maritime boundaries
becoming flash Culturally, the islands could have developed as vibrant
Mexican outposts, with Santa Catalina's avalon hosting festivals blending Chumash,
Mexican and tourist influences. The US Navy's control of San

(12:15):
Clemente and San Nicholas would be absent, potentially altering military
dynamics in the Pacific. Politically, Mexico's retention of the islands
might have emboldened nationalist movements, with the Archipelago del Norte,
symbolizing resistance to the eighteen forty eight territorial losses. Chicano

(12:36):
activists might have rallied around the islands as a reclaimed heritage,
while Chumash communities could have partnered with Mexican authorities to
preserve their cultural sites. However, Mexico's logistical challenges in the
nineteenth century evident in the failed Penal Colony, suggest that
developing the islands would have been difficult, potentially leaving them

(13:00):
as sparsely populated outposts. Despite the treaty's ambiguity and the
claims it inspired, the Channel Islands are unequivocally US territory.
Several factors confirmed this. One is historical intent. The Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded all of Alta, California, including its islands,

(13:21):
as shown in the Disternell map. International law at the
time included adjacent islands in territorial sessions unless explicitly excluded
in writing. Another factor is Mexican in action. Mexico never
formally contested the island's transfer post eighteen forty eight. The
Avila Camacho Commissions nineteen forty seven report acknowledged Mexico's weak

(13:45):
legal position and no subsequent government pursued a claim. The
third factor is US administration. The US has governed the
islands since eighteen forty eight, integrating them into California. Santa
Katalina became a tourist destination. San Clemente a naval base,
and five islands formed the Channel Islands National Park, established

(14:09):
in nineteen eighty. The fourth factor is legal precedent. The
nineteen eighty six Chunney versus Ringrose ruling affirmed US sovereignty,
noting no US Mexico dispute over the islands. The last
factor confirming that the Channel Islands are part of the
US is maritime treaty. The nineteen seventy eight U s.

(14:31):
Mexico Maritime Boundary Treaty explicitly placed the islands north of
the maritime border, confirming US jurisdiction. The idea of the
possibility of Mexican ownership persists due to the vague wording
in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the emotional weight
of Mexico's territorial losses. Nationalist sentiments coming from both sides

(14:56):
of the border, amplified by figures like Chazari and the
Brown Berets keep the idea alive, as does the island's
historical ties to Mexico's Alta California. Yet the legal, historical,
and practical evidence is clear. The Channel Islands were ceded
to the US in eighteen forty eight and remain American soil.

(15:18):
The Channel Islands story is one of intrigue, blending indigenous heritage,
colonial ambition, and modern activism. The notion that they were
overlooked in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo reflects the pain
of Mexico's eighteen forty eight defeat and the allure of
reclaiming a lost archipelago. While speculative scenarios of Mexican control

(15:42):
spark the imagination, the historical record, bolstered by maps, court rulings,
and international agreements, confirms the islands as part of the
United States. Today, as visitors hike Santa Cruz's trails or
ferry to Santa Catalina's avalon, they walk on land shaped
by a complex past, where the echoes of Mexico's claim linger.

(16:06):
Is a fascinating footnote in the ever evolving US Mexico
border saga. Thank You Once again for listening to another
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(16:28):
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eh gracias.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thank you, but listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained
with host Robert Bitto. For show summary, relevant links, and commentary.
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