On October 10, 1542, Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered a large Chumash Indian village close to the sea and there first claimed possession of Alta California lands for the King of Spain. The Indians greeted him by going to his ships in many swift canoes, inspiring Cabrillo to name the village "The Pueblo de las Canoas," the Town of the Canoes. Some historians believe the large Chumash Indian village at Malibu Lagoon was Cabrillo's "Pueblo de las Canoas."