What wine region is named for an island ruled by a Black queen and inhabited by Black female warriors?
A. Colchagua (Chile)
B. Swartland (South Africa)
C. Sicily (Italy)
D. California (U.S.)
D.
Historians believe the name California comes from the sixteenth-century Spanish novel Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Exploits of Esplandián) which describes a fictional island in the East Indies ruled by a Black queen named Calafia and populated only by Black women warriors. Written by Garcia Rodriguez de Montalvo, the novel was popular at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Baja Peninsula which the explorers may have believed to have been the fabled island.