On November 25, 1602 explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno gave its present name. The native Pimungan people called their island Pimu. In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the first European explorer to encounter the island, referred to it as San Salvador. When Vizcaíno sheltered on the island in 1602 he renamed it Catalina, in honor of the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Archaeological evidence shows the island was inhabited by maritime hu...