Alameda City Map Poster

About Alameda

The island Alameda occupies what was originally a peninsula connected to Oakland. The area was therefore called Encinal, Spanish for "forest of evergreen oak". Alameda is Spanish for "grove of poplar trees" or "tree-lined avenue", and was chosen in 1853 by popular vote.The inhabitants at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th century were a local band of the Ohlone tribe. The peninsula became part owner (in common with Peralta) with one square league given to Captain Juan Jose Castro as payment for his services as guide and interpreter over 17 years beginning in 1769; he had settled on this land after returning from an expedition that had reached Monterey Bay, California's Pacific coast northward from San Francisco Bay around Cape Horn aboard Portuguese explorer Captain Juan Bautista de Anza's ship San Carlos . His father Gabriel Moraga later owned Rancho San Antonio , which encompassed most including present day Berkeley and Albany .