34°26′53″N120°28′17″W / 34.448113°N 120.471439°W /34.448113; -120.471439
Point Conception (Chumash:Humqaq) is aheadland along theGaviota Coast in southwesternSanta Barbara County, California, United States. It is the point where theSanta Barbara Channel meets thePacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and the east-west trending part of the coast nearSanta Barbara, it makes a natural division betweenSouthern andCentral California,[1] and is commonly used as such in regional weather forecasts.[2]Point Conception Light is at its tip and theJack and Laura Dangermond Preserve covers some of the surrounding land.
Point Conception was namedCabo de Galera ("Galley Cape") by Spanish maritime explorerJuan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. In 1602,Sebastian Vizcaíno sailed past again, renaming the protruding headlandPunta de la Limpia Concepción[3] ("Point of the Immaculate Conception"). Vizcaíno's name stuck, and was later anglicized to today's version.
TheChumash people of the region have traditionally known Point Conception as the "Western Gate", through which the souls of the dead could pass between the mortal world and the heavenly paradise ofSimilaqsa.[4]
It is calledHumqaq ("The Raven Comes") in theChumashan languages.[5]
In 1978, the Point Conception area was occupied "by Chumash and otherNative Americans trying to save it from development by aliquefied natural gas company."[6]
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