What did Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo do and why is he important? Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is best known for being the first European to successfully navigate the Pacific coast of what is today California to points north of the San Francisco Bay. During the voyage, he and his men disembarked at several points and made direct contact with the Native American inhabitants of the coast and Channel Islands. The account that he and his men wrote about their voyage was the also first written description of the west coast of North America and its peoples.  Where was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo born? Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was born around the year 1500, but…