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California is the most populous state of the United States. Located on the Pacific coast of North America, it is bordered by Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Baja California in Mexico. The state's four largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco. California is known for its pleasant climate and ethnically diverse population. The state has 58 counties.
Inhabited by indigenous people for millennia, California was first colonized by the Spanish in 1769, and after Mexican independence in 1821, continued as part of Mexico. Following a brief period as the independent California Republic in 1846, California was annexed by the United States that same year, and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.
California's diverse geography ranges from the sandy beaches of the Pacific to the rugged, snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the east. The central portion of the state is dominated by the Central Valley, one of the most vital agricultural areas in the country. The Sierra Nevada contain Yosemite Valley, famous for its glacially-carved domes, and Sequoia National Park, home to the largest living organisms on Earth, the Giant Sequoia trees, and the highest point in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney. The tallest living things on Earth, ancient Redwood trees, dot the Northern California coastline. California is also home to the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere, Death Valley. Bristlecone pines located in California's White Mountains are the oldest known trees in the world; one has an age of 4,700 years.
The California Gold Rush, beginning in 1848 dramatically changed California with an influx of population and an economic boom. The early part of the 20th century was marked by California's becoming the center of the entertainment industry, in addition to the beginning of growth of a large tourism sector. The Central Valley is home to California's important large agricultural industry. Other important industries have included the aerospace and oil industries. In recent decades, California has become a global leader in computers and information technology. If California were a country, its economy would rank among the ten largest of the world.
The name California is most commonly believed derived from a storied paradise peopled by black Amazons and ruled by Queen Califia. The myth of Califia is recorded in a 1510 work The Exploits of Esplandian, written as a sequel to Amadís de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer García Ordonez Rodriguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Califia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a remote land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts and rich in gold.
Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is an island named California, very close to that part of the terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women, without a single man among them, and that they lived in the manner of Amazons. They were robust of body, with strong and passionate hearts and great virtues. The island itself is one of the wildest in the world on account of the bold and craggy rocks. Their weapons were all made of gold. The island everywhere abounds with gold and precious stones, and upon it no other metal was found.
It is thought that the myth of Califia later helped fuel Spanish exploration in the New World.
According to this theory, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés heard stories of an island populated by women warriors and filled with riches, off the northwest coast of today's Mexico. Beginning in 1535, he sponsored three expeditions to what is now known as the Baja California Peninsula in search of this island. While Cortés is credited with the discovery of Baja California, he found no such island of riches and Amazons. In official reports about Cortés's discoveries written in the early 1540s, these new lands are referred to as "California" - likely alluding to Montalvo's imaginary island.
California's geography is rich, complex, and varied. In the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Sierra Nevada to the east, the Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of the United States's food. The northern half is known as the "Sacramento Valley" (drained by the Sacramento River), while southern part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the "San Joaquin Valley" (drained by the San Joaquin River). With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained sufficiently deep that several inland cities are seaports. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta serves as the water supply hub for much of the state's population. The Channel Islands are located off the southern coast.
The Sierra Nevada (meaning "snowy range" in Spanish) include the highest peak in the contiguous forty-eight states, Mount Whitney, at 14,494 ft (4418 m), world-famous Yosemite National Park, and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra Nevada are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential migratory bird habitat. In the western part of the state is Clear Lake, California's largest freshwater lake by area. The Sierra Nevada reaches arctic temperatures in the winter and has several dozen small glaciers, including the southernmost glacier in the U.S. (Palisade Glacier).
About 35% of the state's total surface area is covered by forests, and California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. In the south is a large inland salt lake, the Salton Sea. Deserts in California make up about 25% of the total surface area. The south-central desert is called the Mojave; to the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest, hottest point in North America, Badwater Flat. The lowest point of Death Valley and the peak of Mount Whitney are less than 200 miles apart. Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with routine extreme high temperatures during the summer.
Along the California coast are several major metropolitan areas, including San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Santa Ana-Irvine-Anaheim, and San Diego.
California is famous for earthquakes due to a number of faults, in particular the San Andreas Fault. It is vulnerable to tsunamis, wildfires, and landslides on steep terrain, and has several volcanoes
Metropolitan areas by population
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