Las sergas de Esplandián

Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) is the fifth book in a series of Spanish chivalric romance novels by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which began with Amadís de Gaula. The first known edition of this work was published in Seville in July 1510. But there was another edition published prior, possibly in Seville in 1496, as the sixth book of the series, Florisando, appeared four months earlier, in April 1510. This work is cited by Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote, in particular it is included in the list of books in The library of Don Quixote.

Ruth Putnam argues that Montalvo finished his novel sometime after 1492 but before Queen Isabella died in 1504.

Las Sergas mentions a fictional island named California, inhabited only by black women, and ruled by Queen Calafia. When Spanish explorers (including Francisco de Ulloa) learned of an island (actually a peninsula) off western Mexico rumored to be ruled by Amazon women, they named it California.