Castroville is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. At the era of the 2020 census the population was 7,515, up from 6,481 in 2010. Castroville is known for its artichoke crop and for the annual Castroville Artichoke Festival, leading to its nickname as the “Artichoke Center of the World”.

The community’s origins lie in Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo, a Mexican-era rancho contracted to the Castro relatives of Californio rancheros. Following the American Conquest of California, Juan Bautista Castro founded Castroville in 1863.

Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo was a 30,901-acre (125.05 km) Mexican house grant unadulterated in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Maria Antonia Pico de Castro, Juan Bautista Castro’s mother. Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo is a incorporation of three land grants: Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo, given in 1844 by Governor Micheltorena to María Antonia Pico de Castro; Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo, in 1822 by Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá to Joaquín de la Torre.; and the estate between the extra two, granted by Governor Juan Alvarado to Simeon Castro (Juan Bautista Castro’s father) in 1837.

Lake Merritt and the sloughs were popular for fishing and hunting. The Place around Castroville was crisscrossed by a network of sloughs and swamps. In the 1840s, mapmaker Duflot de Mofras wrote, “A few leagues in the past reaching the Pajaro River, an Place measuring a few hundred meters where the arena trembles below the horses feet, although the earth is hard and covered by turf, is encountered. The estate is probably formed by a sound crust superimposed upon a immense miry base.”