California
About California
History of California
Pre-European California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse culture areas in Native North America. Large, settled populations lived on the West Coast and hunted sea mammals, fished for salmon, and gathered shellfish, while more mobile hunters and gathering groups in the California interior hunted terrestrial game and gathered nuts, acorns, and berries. California groups also were diverse in their political organization with bands, tribes, tribelets, and on the resource-rich coasts large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage, and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups.
The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in 1542. The first to explore the entire coast and claim possession of it was Francis Drake in 1579. Beginning in the late 1700s, Spanish missionaries set up tiny settlements on enormous grants of land in the vast territory north of Baja California. The missions played a dominant role in the decimation of California’s indigenous population. Upon Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government, and they were quickly dissolved and abandoned. For a quarter century after the achievement of Mexican independence in 1821, California was a remote northern province of the nation of Mexico. Huge cattle ranches, or ranchos, emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. Traders and settlers from the United States began to arrive, harbingers of the great changes that would sweep California.
In this period, some nobles of Imperial Russia made brief attempts to explore and claim parts of California, but these were limited by a lack of Imperial interest.
California was poorly settled until modern public health eliminated the endemic outbreaks of yellow fever, malaria and plague, caused because the area lacks frosts to kill mosquitos and fleas.
In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the California Republic was founded and the Bear Flag was flown, which featured a golden bear and a star. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States. Following the war, the region was divided between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican portion, Baja (lower) California was later divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The western part of the U.S. portion, Alta (upper) California, was to become the U.S. state of California.
In 1848, the Spanish-speaking population of distant upper California numbered around 4,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with Americans, Europeans, and other immigrants in the great California gold rush. In 1850, the state was admitted to the Union of the USA as a free state (one in which slavery was prohibited).
During the American Civil War, California officially entered on the side of the North, but there was significant support for the South as well and many went east to fight for the Confederacy.
At first, travel between the far Pacific West to the eastern population centers was time-consuming and dangerous, requiring either long ocean voyages, or difficult transcontinental passages by stagecoach and on foot. A more direct connection came in 1869 with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. After this rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of Americans came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Citrus, oranges in particular, were widely grown, and the foundation was laid for the state’s prodigious agricultural production of today.
During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965 the population grew from fewer than one million to become the most populous state in the Union. From 1965 to the present, the population demographic changed radically and became one of the most diverse in the world. The state is generally liberal-leaning, technologically and culturally savvy, and a world center of engineering businesses, the film and television industry, music industry, and as mentioned above, American agricultural production.
California
Adelanto Agoura Hills Ahwahnee Alameda Alhambra Alpine Alturas Anaheim Anaheim Hills Anderson Angels Camp Antioch Aptos Arcadia Arcata Arroyo Grande Artesia Atascadero Auburn Avalon Avila Beach Azusa Bakersfield Baldwin Park Banning Barstow Beaumont Bell Gardens Bellflower Belmont Ben Lomond Benicia Berkeley Beverly Hills Big Bear Lake Big Sur Bishop Blue Jay Blythe Bodega Bay Borrego Springs Boyes Hot Springs Brawley Brea Brentwood Bridgeport Brisbane Buellton Buena Park Burbank Burlingame Buttonwillow Calabasas Calexico California Calistoga Camarillo Cambria Cameron Park Campbell Canoga Park Capistrano Beach Capitola Cardiff by the Sea Carlsbad Carmel Carmel Valley Carpinteria Carson Castaic Castro Valley Cathedral City Ceres Cerritos Chatsworth Chico Chino Chowchilla Chula Vista Citrus Heights City of Industry Claremont Clearlake Cloverdale Clovis Coalinga Coarsegold Colton Commerce Compton Concord Copperopolis Corning Corona Coronado Corte Madera Costa Mesa Coulterville Covina Crescent City Culver City Cupertino Cypress Daly City Dana Point Davis Death Valley Del Mar Delano Desert Hot Springs Diamond Bar Dinuba Dixon Downey Duarte Dublin Dunnigan Dunsmuir El Cajon El Centro El Ceritto El Monte El Segundo Emeryville Encinitas Escondido Eureka Exeter Fairfield Fallbrook Ferndale Fillmore Firebaugh Fish Camp Folsom Fontana Foothill Ranch Fort Bragg Fortuna Foster City Fountain Valley Fremont Fresno Fullerton Galt Garberville Garden Grove Gardena Gilroy Glendale Glendora Goleta Grass Valley Groveland Grover Beach Guerneville Hacienda Heights Half Moon Bay Hanford Harbor City Hawthorne Hayward Healdsburg Helendale Hemet Hermosa Beach Hesperia Highland Hollister Hollywood Huntington Beach Idyllwild Imperial Beach Indian Wells Indio Inglewood Irvine Jackson Jamestown June Lake Kettleman City King City La Jolla La Mesa La Mirada La Palma La Quinta Lafayette Laguna Beach Laguna Hills Laguna Woods Lake Arrowhead Lake Forest Lancaster Larkspur Lathrop Lawndale Lebec Lee Vining Lemoore Lindsay Livermore Lodi Lompoc Lone Pine Long Beach Los Alamitos Los Altos Los Angeles Los Banos Los Gatos Lost Hills Lynwood Madera Malibu Mammoth Lakes Manhattan Beach Manteca Marina Marina del Rey Mariposa Martinez Marysville McClellan McKinleyville Mendocino Menlo Park Merced Midpines Mill Valley Millbrae Milpitas Mission Hills Mission Viejo Modesto Mojave Monrovia Montebello Montecito Monterey Monterey Park Moreno Valley Morgan Hill Morro Bay Mount Shasta Mountain View Napa National City Needles Nevada City Newark Newbury Park Newport Beach Newport Coast Nice Norco North Highlands North Hollywood Norwalk Novato Oakdale Oakhurst Oakland Oceanside Ojai Ontario Orange Oroville Oxnard Pacific Grove Pacifica Palm Desert Palm Springs Palmdale Palo Alto Paradise Pasadena Paso Robles Patterson Perris Pescadero Petaluma Phelan Pico Rivera Pinole Pismo Beach Placentia Placerville Playa del Rey Pleasant Hill Pleasanton Pollock Pines Pomona Port Hueneme Porterville Poway Rancho Bernardo Rancho Cordova Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Dominguez Rancho Mirage Rancho Santa Fe Red Bluff Redding Redlands Redondo Beach Redwood City Reseda Rialto Richmond Ridgecrest Riverside Rocklin Rohnert Park Rosemead Roseville Rowland Heights Rutherford Sacramento Salida Salinas San Bernardino San Bruno San Carlos San Clemente San Diego San Dimas San Francisco San Jose San Juan Capistrano San Leandro San Luis Obispo San Marcos San Mateo San Pablo San Pedro San Rafael San Ramon San Simeon San Ysidro Santa Ana Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Clarita Santa Cruz Santa Fe Springs Santa Maria Santa Monica Santa Nella Santa Rosa Santee Saratoga Sausalito Scotts Valley Sea Ranch Seal Beach Seaside Sebastopol Selma Sequoia National Park Shell Beach Sherman Oaks Shoshone Simi Valley Smith River Solana Beach Soledad Solvang Sonoma Sonora South El Monte South Lake Tahoe South San Francisco Southgate Spring Valley St. Helena Stanton Stevenson Ranch Stinson Beach Stockton Studio City Suisun City Summerland Sun City Sunnyvale Sunset Beach Susanville Sylmar Tahoe City Tahoe Vista Tarzana Tehachapi Temecula Thousand Oaks Thousand Palms Three Rivers Tiburon Torrance Tracy Truckee Tulare Turlock Twentynine Palms Ukiah Union City Universal City Upland Vacaville Valencia Vallejo Van Nuys Venice Ventura Victorville Visalia Vista Walnut Walnut Creek Warner Springs Watsonville Weaverville Weed West Covina West Hollywood West Sacramento Westlake Village Westley Westminster Whittier Williams Willits Willows Wilmington Winnetka Woodland Woodland Hills Yermo Yorba Linda Yosemite National Park Yountville Yreka Yuba City Yucca Valley
