25 Facts About Calafia

1.

Calafia is convinced to raise an army of women warriors and sail away from California with a large flock of trained griffins so that she can join a Muslim battle against Christians who are defending Constantinople.

2.

Calafia is bested and taken prisoner, and she converts to Christianity.

3.

Calafia marries a cousin of Esplandian and returns with the remainder of her army to California for further adventures.

4.

The name of Calafia was likely formed from the Arabic word khalifa that is known as caliph in English and califa in Spanish.

5.

The character of Calafia is used by Rodriguez de Montalvo to portray the superiority of chivalry in which the attractive virgin queen is conquered, converted to Christian beliefs, and married off.

6.

Calafia has been depicted as the Spirit of California, and has been the subject of modern-day sculpture, paintings, stories, and films; she often figures in the myth of California's origin, symbolizing an untamed and bountiful land prior to European settlement.

7.

Calafia is introduced as a regal black woman, courageous, strong of limb and large of person, full in the bloom of womanhood, the most beautiful of a long line of queens who ruled over the mythical realm of California.

8.

Calafia is said to be "desirous of achieving great things"; she wanted to see the world and plunder a portion of it with superior fighting ability, using her army of women warriors.

9.

Calafia commanded a fleet of ships with which she demanded tribute from surrounding lands, and she kept an aerial defense force of griffins, fabulous animals which were native to California, trained to kill any man they found.

10.

Calafia meets Radiaro, a Muslim warrior who convinces her that she should join him in retaking Constantinople from the Christian armies holding it.

11.

Calafia, in turn, convinces her people to take their ships, weapons, armor, riding beasts, and 500 griffins, and sail with her to Constantinople to fight the Christians, though she has no concept of what it means to be Muslim or Christian.

12.

Calafia directs the griffin trainers to call them off, and the griffins return to roost in the ships.

13.

Calafia led a picked group of women warriors to attack a city gate, one held by Norandel, the half-brother of King Amadis.

14.

Norandel charged out of the gate against Calafia; upon meeting their two lances were broken but the warriors remained standing.

15.

Calafia determines that she must see the man herself before engaging him in combat.

16.

Calafia stays awake all night wondering whether to wear royal robes or warrior's armor.

17.

Calafia tells him she will meet him on the field of battle and, if they should live, that she wishes to speak further with him.

18.

Calafia wrote that both Calafia and California most likely came from the Arabic word khalifa which means ruler or leader.

19.

Templeton says that Calafia is exemplary of a genre of literature from the 14th to the 16th centuries that featured black women as powerful, wealthy and beautiful.

20.

The novel about Esplandian and Calafia's domain had a strong influence on the searching Conquistadors, who believed they might find a nation of women and riches somewhere at the edge of the known world.

21.

Calafia described how they used bows and arrows, and lived in many towns.

22.

An exhibition featuring Queen Calafia followed in 1995 at the Historic State Capital Museum in Sacramento with subsequent showings in the sixth Floor Gallery of the San Francisco Main Library and the Los Angeles Central Library.

23.

The mural of Queen Calafia is featured at the top of the new African-American Freedom Trail brochure produced by ReUNION: Education-Arts-Heritage and San Francisco Travel in November 2013.

24.

In November 1975, the 11,000-capacity Plaza de Toros Calafia was completed, a bullfighting arena in the city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California.

25.

In 2021, the town of Sausalito, California staged the "Queen Calafia Welcoming Event", in which the Sausalito Historical Society and local actors depicted the fictional return of Queen Calafia to present-day California, in celebration of the legendary queen and the etymology of California.