The original natives of Marin were the Coast Miwok Indians whose descendents greeted Northern California's first European visitors.
In 1579, Francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hinde set foot in Marin, the first-known European to do so. The Spanish explorer Viscaino landed about twenty years later in what is now called Drake's Bay.
The first Spanish settlement in Marin was established in 1817 with the founding of Mission San Rafael Archangel. In 1821 control of California passed from Spain to Mexico, and in the early 1830s secularization of mission properties was decreed.
During the next decade, when the Mexican government was parceling out large grants of land in return for services rendered, Marin was divided into great ranchos. A grantee was required to become a Mexican citizen and baptized Catholic; thereafter his first name was Spanish and he was known as a Don. Juan Reed, Sausalito's first known English-speaking resident, was granted the Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio. Adjacent land was granted to Captain Guillermo Antonio Richardson, an Englishman and the first port captain of San Francisco. Timoteo Murphy was given an immense grant that included San Rafael, where he managed the mission properties.
The United States' occupation of California began in 1846, ending the "Days of the Dons." California became a state in 1850 and Marin one of its original counties. As settlement accelerated, the huge cattle-raising ranchos gradually gave way to smaller ranches.
Today, Marin County captures the quintessential nature of Northern California. With its charming small towns, coastal ridge lines and stands of giant redwoods - all within a 30 or 45-minute drive from San Francisco - Marin is a mecca of one-of-a-kind shops, unbeatable walks and hikes, and that laid-back West Coast attitude.
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