| Wikipedia: History of California |
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| History of California |
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| To 1899 |
| Gold Rush (1848) American Civil War (1861-1865) |
| Since 1900 |
| Maritime Railroad Highways Slavery Los Angeles Sacramento San Diego |
The History of California is divided into the following articles.
Contents |
History of California to 1899
The remains of Arlington Springs Man on Santa Rosa Island are among the traces of a very early habitation, dated to the Wisconsin glaciation (the most recent ice age) about 13,000 years ago. In all, some 30 tribes or culture groups lived in what is now California, gathered into perhaps six different language family groups. In all, it is estimated by the time of extensive European contact in the 1700s, that perhaps 300,000 Native Americans were living within what is now California[citation needed].
The first European explorers, flying the flags of Spain and of England, sailed along the coast of California from the early 1500s to the mid-1700s, but no European settlements were established. The California seen by these ship-bound explorers was one of hilly grasslands and forests, with few apparent resources or natural ports to attract colonists. It was not until the middle of the 1700s, that both Russian and British explorers and fur-traders began encroaching on the margins of the area.
About 1530, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (President of New Spain) was told by an Indian slave a tale of the Seven Cities of Cibola that had streets paved with gold and silver. About the same time, Hernán Cortés was attracted by stories of a wonderful country far to the northwest, populated by Amazonish women and abounding with gold, pearls, and gems. The Spaniards conjectured that these places may be one and the same.
Moved by stories of lands abounding with gold, in July 1539 Cortés sent Francisco de Ulloa out with three small vessels. He made it to the mouth of the Colorado, then sailed around the peninsula as far as Cedros Island. The account of this voyage marks the first recorded application of the name "California".
The first European to explore the California coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown. He landed on September 28, 1542 at San Diego Bay, claiming what he thought was the Island of California for Spain.
In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored California's coastline as far north as Monterey Bay, where he put ashore. He made glowing reports of the Monterey area as an anchorage and as land suitable for settlement, and provided detailed charts he of the coastal waters (which were used for nearly 200 years).[1]
In 1778, the British seafaring Captain James Cook mapped the coast from California all the way to the Bering Strait. In 1786, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, led a group of scientists and artists who compiled an account of the Californian mission system, the land and the people. Traders, whalers and scientific missions followed in the next decades.[2]
In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the California Republic was founded. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and claimed California for the United States.
History of California 1900 to present
Maritime history of California
Maritime history of California is a term used to describe significant past events relating to the U.S. State of California in areas concerning shipping, shipwrecks, and military installations and lighthouses constructed to protect or aid navigation and development of the state.
The first recorded shipwreck in California is that of the San Augustin, a Spanish Manila galleon, which was driven ashore in a gale in 1595 and was anchored in Drake’s Bay, northwest of San Francisco. The Farallon Islands and the mainland coast north of the Golden Gate Bridge have historically provided hazardous navigational obstacles to shipping. Year-round fogs and dangerous winds and storms often led ships to rocks and beaches to be pounded by the Pacific swells. Since the San Augustin, thousands of vessels have been lost in the states' coastal waters.
History of slavery in California
A type of slavery existed among the native peoples of the California region long before the arrival of European colonists. Spanish colonists—participants in the Atlantic slave trade and owners of both Indian and African slaves—introduced such concepts as chattel slavery and involuntary servitude to the area. Anglo settlers from the Southern and Eastern United States brought centuries of experience and insatiable habits to California. Many free and enslaved people of African ancestry were part of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), and many were able to buy their freedom and freedom for their families, primarily in the South with the gold they found. [1]
California Gold Rush
In the early years of the California Gold Rush, placer mining methods were used, from panning to "cradles" and "rockers" or "long-toms", to diverting the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river, and then dig for gold in the newly-exposed river bottom. Some 12 million ounces[3] (370 t) of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$6.6 billion at November 2006 prices) had been recovered via "hydraulicking," a style of hydraulic mining that later spread around the world. By the late 1890s, dredging technology had become economical,[4] and it is estimated that more than 20 million ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging (worth approximately US$12 billion at November 2006 prices). Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, hard-rock mining wound up being the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country.[5]
California and the railroads
The establishment of America's transcontinental rail lines securely linked California to the rest of the country, and the far-reaching transportation systems that grew out of them during the century that followed contributed to the state’s social, political, and economic development. When California was admitted as a state to the United States in 1850, and for nearly two decades thereafter, it was in many ways isolated, an outpost on the Pacific. In recent years, passenger railroad building has picked up steam, with the introduction of services such as Metrolink, Caltrain, Amtrak California, and others. This is expected to continue, thanks to the passing of various rail-construction measures on November 4, 2008, including Proposition 1a.
California in the American Civil War
California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east, recruiting or funding a limited number of combat units, maintaining numerous fortifications, and sending troops east, some of whom became famous.
Republican supporters of Lincoln took control of the state in 1861, minimizing the influence of the large southern population. Their great success was in obtaining a Pacific railroad land grant and authorization to build the Central Pacific as the western half of the transcontinental railroad.
California was settled primarily by Midwestern and Southern farmers, miners and businessmen. Though the southerners tended to favor the Confederacy, the state did not have slavery, and they were generally powerless during the war itself. California was home for powerful businessmen who played a significant role in Californian politics through their control of mines, shipping, finance, and the Republican Party. The possibility of splitting off Southern California as a territory instead of a state was rejected by the national government, and the idea was dead by 1861 when patriotic fervor swept California after the attack on Fort Sumter.
See also
- History of Chico, California
- History of Los Angeles, California
- History of Piedmont, California
- History of Sacramento, California
- History of San Bernardino, California
- History of San Diego, California
- History of San Francisco, California
- History of San Jose, California
- History of Santa Monica, California
- Territorial evolution of California
References
- ^ Information from Monterey County Museum about Vizcaino's voyage and Monterey landing (retrieved 2006-12-18); Summary of Vizcaino expedition diary (retrieved 2006-12-18]
- ^ "The French In Early California". Ancestry Magazine. http://www.ancestry.myfamily.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=808. Retrieved on March 24 2006.
- ^ The Troy weight system is traditionally used to measure precious metals, not the more familiar avoirdupois weight system. The term "ounces" used in this article to refer to gold typically refers to troy ounces. There are some historical uses where, because of the age of the use, the intention is ambiguous.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 199.
- ^ Charles N. Alpers, Michael P. Hunerlach, Jason T. May, and Roger L. Hothem. "Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in California". U.S. Geological Survey. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3014/. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
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