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Michael A. Stecker
mastecker@gmail.com
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California
California Basics
California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada
and Arizona to the east, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the
south. It has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west. With over
38.9 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square
miles
it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest U.S. state by area,
and the most populated state in the USA.
Etymology
The name California is derived from the
mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia, as
recorded in a 1510 work "The Adventures of Esplandián" by Castilian author
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a
remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women
who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons, as well as griffins and other
strange beasts.
California History
Seventy-eight years before the English landing
at Plymouth Rock, the first European to explore what is today the United
States of America was
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay (now in southern California)
on September 28, 1542. Prior to European colonization, California
was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in
pre-Columbian North America. European exploration in the 16th and
17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish
Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the
Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821,
following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United
States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush
started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes,
including the depopulation of indigenous peoples in the California
genocide. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and
admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, as a free state,
following the Compromise of 1850.
Geography
The state's extremely diverse geography ranges
from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra
Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests
in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the
nation's earthquake risk lies in California.[37] The Central Valley, a
fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is
well known for its warm Mediterranean climate along the coast and monsoon
seasonal weather inland. The large size of the state results in climates
that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in
the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains. Droughts and
wildfires are an ongoing issue for the state
My You Tube
"California
Photos" slideshow is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1LAyghEhE&feature=youtu.be
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