108-496: The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from California , Arizona and Washington states, replaced the void left by defunct World Hockey Association franchises, with some teams sharing the names of their predecessors. The idea for the league emerged in the 1977 WHA All-Star Game , as WHA co-founder Dennis Murphy and Indianapolis Racers founder Walt Marlow discussed putting
216-433: A slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states to be politically imperative that the number of free states not exceed the number of slave states, so new states were admitted in slave–free pairs. There were, nonetheless, some slaves in most free states up to
324-506: A "Person held to Service or Labor." In addition, Article 1, section 9, clause 1 of the Constitution prohibited Congress from abolishing the importation of slaves , but in a compromise, the prohibition could be lifted by Congress in 20 years, and slaves were referred to as "Persons." The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves passed easily in 1807 and took effect on January 1, 1808. However, the ban on importation spurred an expansion in
432-473: A Caliph) on their way to Guerrero, Mexico where they played a future role in the wars of independence . Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain , putting ashore in Monterey . Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into
540-598: A commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush . From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail , California Trail , Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico
648-630: A congressional veto over federal policy with regard to slavery and other issues important to the South. As a result of this preoccupation, slave states and free states were often admitted into the Union in opposite pairs to maintain the existing Senate balance between slave and free states. Controversy over whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave state resulted in the Missouri Compromise of 1821, which specified that territory acquired in
756-430: A constitutional convention on March 10, 1864. Arkansas, part of which came under Union control by 1864, adopted an anti-slavery constitution on March 16, 1864. Louisiana – much of which had been under Union control since 1862 – abolished slavery through a new state constitution approved by voters September 5, 1864. The border states of Maryland (November 1, 1864) and Missouri (January 11, 1865) abolished slavery before
864-683: A crime. Slavery was established as a legal institution in each of the Thirteen Colonies , starting from 1619 on wards with the arrival of "twenty and odd" enslaved Africans in Virginia . Although indigenous peoples were also sold into slavery, the vast majority of the enslaved population consisted of Africans brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade . Due to a lower prevalence of tropical diseases and better treatment ,
972-576: A free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians", were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians . One of these de facto slave auctions was approved by the Los Angeles City Council and occurred for nearly twenty years. There were many massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed by settlers for their land. Between 1850 and 1860,
1080-587: A minor league in the West Coast akin to the recently defunct Western Hockey League . As the WHA's San Diego Mariners disbanded following that season, San Diego Sports Arena operator Peter Graham decided to join Murphy and Morrow to push for said league along with WHA alum James Browitt. Marlow became commissioner, while the other three partners became owners or partners of teams – another Mariners for Browitt,
1188-624: A modest home which in the 1960s cost $ 25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses, expecting to make a huge profit in months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as people assumed prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as prices began to crash. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared, as financial institutions and investors were badly hurt. In
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#17327931987851296-469: A part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769. In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both
1404-712: 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. Abbreviations of the state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., Califas , and US-CA . California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups , inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. Living in these diverse geographic areas,
1512-748: A short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento . Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood . On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 , California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday . During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of
1620-612: A state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only
1728-713: A state until 1896, as an organized territory , Utah legalized slavery under the 1852 territorial Act in Relation to Service and similar Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners . Brigham Young and his group of Mormon pioneers had arrived in Utah in 1847, during the Mexican–American War , when Utah Territory was Mexican territory. They ignored the Mexican ban on slavery. They viewed slavery as consistent with
1836-572: A statehood bill to Congress to create a new state from 48 counties in western Virginia. The new state would eventually incorporate 50 counties. The issue of slavery in the new state delayed approval of the bill. In the Senate Charles Sumner objected to the admission of a new slave state, while Benjamin Wade defended statehood as long as a gradual emancipation clause would be included in the new state constitution. Two senators represented
1944-644: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . California California is a state in the Western United States , lying on the American Pacific Coast . It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With nearly 39 million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km ), it
2052-589: Is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest by area, and most populated subnational entity in North America . 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 by the Spanish Empire . The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence , but
2160-436: Is the largest of any U.S. state, with a $ 4.0 trillion gross state product as of 2024 . It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. California's agricultural industry has the highest output of any U.S. state, and is led by its dairy , almonds , and grapes . With the busiest port in the country ( Los Angeles ), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of goods imported to
2268-812: The Long Beach Sharks for Browitt and Murphy with the San Francisco Shamrocks , owned by the Harlem Globetrotters ' Jerry Saperstein. A fourth franchise came with the Phoenix Roadrunners , that just been expelled from the WHA. The inaugural season had each team playing 42 times, and afterwards a final where the Shamrocks beat the Roadrunners 2-1. The success lead to the arrival of three other franchises,
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#17327931987852376-558: The Los Angeles Blades , Spokane Flyers and Tucson Rustlers the following year. However, the second season was plagued with financial problems, with the Los Angeles and San Francisco franchises even folding halfway through, leading to the cancellation of the playoffs (the Roadrunners were named champions for their regular season performance) and the outright folding of the league. This ice hockey league article
2484-504: The Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles, he convinced each side that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States. In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during
2592-652: The Bear Flag Revolt . Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide , who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic
2700-715: The California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop an efficient system of public education. Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 9% of US armaments produced during World War II , ranking third behind New York and Michigan . California easily ranked first in production of military ships at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and
2808-547: The Compromise of 1850 . Three more free states were admitted in the final years before the Civil War, disrupting the balance that the slave states had tried to maintain. The American Civil War (1861–1865) disrupted and eventually ended slavery. Eleven slave states joined the Confederacy , while the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri – all slave states – remained in
2916-511: The Graham Affair , which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials. One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh . After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as
3024-553: The Indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's first governor Peter Hardeman Burnett instituted policies that have been described as a state-sanctioned policy of elimination of California's indigenous people. Burnett announced in 1851 in his Second Annual Message to the Legislature: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between
3132-480: The Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36° 30', which described most of Missouri's southern border, would, except for Missouri, become free states, and territory south of that line would become slave states. As part of the compromise, Maine , on August 19, 1821, was admitted as a free state. The admission of Texas (1845) and the acquisition of the vast new Mexican Cession territories (1848), after
3240-515: The Mexican–American War , created further north–south conflict. Although the settled portion of Texas was an area rich in cotton plantations and dependent on slave labor, the territory acquired in the Mountain West did not seem hospitable to cotton or slavery. As part of the Compromise of 1850 , California was admitted as a free state without a slave state being admitted; California's admission also meant there would be no slave state on
3348-616: The Presidio of San Diego , the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay. After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along
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3456-722: The Route 66 . From 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 90% non-Hispanic white. To meet the population's needs, engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts ; the Oroville and Shasta Dams ; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. The state government adopted
3564-640: The Senate , where each state was represented by two senators. With an equal number of slave states and free states, the Senate was equally divided on issues important to the South . As the population of the free states began to outstrip the population of the slave states, leading to control of the House of Representatives by free states, the Senate became the preoccupation of slave-state politicians interested in maintaining
3672-527: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah . The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as
3780-659: The U.S. Constitution was ratified, had prohibited slavery in the federal Northwest Territory . The southern boundary of the territory was the Ohio River , which was regarded as a westward extension of the Mason-Dixon line . The territory was generally settled by New Englanders and American Revolutionary War veterans granted land there. The 6 states created from the territory were all free states: Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848), and Minnesota (1858). By 1815,
3888-673: The coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza , the Viceroy of New Spain , to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island . Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of
3996-517: The domestic slave trade , which remained legal until slavery was banned entirely in 1865 by the 13th Amendment . In the late 1850s, an unsuccessful campaign was launched by several southern states to resume the international slave trade, to restock their slave populations, but this met with strong opposition. However, there was a large natural increase in the slave population throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, while some illegal smuggling of African slaves continued via Spanish Cuba . One of
4104-539: The 1840 census (see Slavery in the United States#Abolitionism in the North ). In the South, Kentucky was created as a slave state from Virginia (1792), and Tennessee was created as a slave state from North Carolina (1796). By 1804, before the creation of new states from the federal western territories, the number of slave and free states was 8 each. By the time of Missouri Compromise of 1820,
4212-543: The 1840 census, and the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution , as implemented by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 , provided that a slave did not become free by entering a free state and must be returned to their owner. Enforcement of these laws became one of the controversies which arose between slave and free states. Slavery, in what would become
4320-408: The 1850s, culminating in numerous skirmishes and devastation on both sides of the question. Nevertheless, the North prevented Kansas Territory from becoming a slave state, and when Southern members of Congress departed en masse in early 1861, Kansas was immediately admitted to the Union as a free state. When the admission of Minnesota proceeded unimpeded in 1858, the balance in the Senate ended; this
4428-513: The 18th century. The Portolá expedition of 1769–70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios , and pueblos . The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá , who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra , who came by sea from Baja California . In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and
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4536-491: The 1992 Rodney King riots. California was the hub of the Black Panther Party , known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice. Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 70s. During the 20th century, two great disasters happened: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain
4644-403: The 21st century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive. One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States occurred in California on January 26, 2020. A state of emergency was declared in
4752-522: The California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco . The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay . Coincidentally the descendants of the Muslim Caliph Hasan ibn Ali in formerly Islamic Manila and had converted, then mixed Christianity with Islam, upon Spanish conquest, transited through California (Named after
4860-526: The California coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco ( Mission San Francisco de Asís ), San Diego ( Mission San Diego de Alcalá ), Ventura ( Mission San Buenaventura ), or Santa Barbara ( Mission Santa Barbara ), among others. Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into
4968-534: The California government in 2022. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and, on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms , such as the Chumash , Pomo and Salinan . Trade, intermarriage, craft specialists, and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups. Although nations would sometimes war, most armed conflicts were between groups of men for vengeance . Acquiring territory
5076-443: The California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias with the stated purpose of protecting settlers, however these militias perpetrated numerous massacres of indigenous people. Indigenous people were also forcibly moved to reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from
5184-617: The Civil War, there were 19 free states and 15 slave states. The most recent free state, Kansas , had entered the Union after its own years-long bloody fight over slavery. During the war, slavery was abolished in some of the slave states, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States, except as punishment for
5292-613: The Mormon view on Black people. On June 19, 1862, fulfilling a part of his 1860 campaign platform, President Lincoln signed the law ending slavery in Utah Territory and all other territories. While California's state constitution outlawed slavery, the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians allowed the indenture of Native Californians. This law provided for apprenticing or indenturing Indian children to Whites, and also punished vagrant Indians by hiring them out to
5400-704: The Pacific coast. To avoid creating a free state majority in the Senate, California agreed to send one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery senator to Congress. The difficulty of identifying territory that could be organized into additional slave states stalled the process of opening the western territories to settlement. Slave-state politicians made efforts to annex Cuba (see: Lopez Expedition and Ostend Manifesto , 1852) and Nicaragua (see: Filibuster War , 1856–57), with intentions to create new slave states. Parts of Northern Mexico were also coveted, with Senator Albert Brown declaring "I want Tamaulipas , Potosi , and one or two other Mexican States ; and I want them all for
5508-624: The San Francisco Bay Area. Due to the hiring opportunities California offered during the conflict, the population multiplied from the immigration it received due to the work in its war factories, military bases, and training facilities. After World War II, California's economy expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War . Stanford University began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay instead of leaving
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#17327931987855616-537: The Thirteen Colonies — banned slavery in the same year, before being admitted as a state in 1791. Slavery was a divisive issue in the United States. It was a major issue during the writing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the subject of political crises in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 and was the primary cause of the American Civil War in 1861. Just before
5724-497: The U.S. Army. In the 20th century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to California. The state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act , excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps; in 2020, California apologized. Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of transcontinental highways like
5832-557: The U.S. Congress. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, Tennessee was already under Union control. Accordingly, the Proclamation applied only in the 10 remaining Confederate states. During the war, abolition of slavery was required by President Abraham Lincoln for readmission of Confederate states. The U.S. Congress , after the departure of the powerful Southern contingent in 1861,
5940-586: The US. Notable contributions to popular culture , ranging from entertainment , sports , music , and fashion , have their origins in California. California is the home of Hollywood , the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. The San Francisco Bay and the Greater Los Angeles areas are seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. The Spaniards gave
6048-454: The Union . However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the "California 100 Company" , were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California. At
6156-413: The Union, although Kentucky and Missouri also had competing Confederate state governments. In 1863 western Virginia, much of which had remained loyal to the Union, was admitted as the new state of West Virginia with a commitment to gradual emancipation. The following year Nevada , a free state in the West, was also admitted. During the Civil War, a Unionist government in Wheeling, Virginia , presented
6264-399: The Unionist Virginia government, John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey . Senator Carlile objected that Congress had no right to impose emancipation on West Virginia , while Willey proposed a compromise amendment to the state constitution for gradual abolition. Sumner attempted to add his own amendment to the bill, which was defeated, and the statehood bill passed both houses of Congress with
6372-542: The United States, was established as part of European colonization . By the 18th century, slavery was legal throughout the Thirteen Colonies , after which rebel colonies started to abolish the practice. Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780, and about half of the states had abolished slavery by the end of the Revolutionary War or in the first decades of the new country, although this did not always mean that existing slaves became free. Vermont — having declared its independence from Britain in 1777 and thus not being one of
6480-454: The West Virginia legislature completely abolished slavery, and also ratified the 13th Amendment on February 3, 1865. In the District of Columbia , formed with land from two slave states, Maryland and Virginia, the trade was abolished by the Compromise of 1850 . So as to avoid losing the profitable slave-trading businesses in Alexandria (one was Franklin and Armfield ), Alexandria County, D.C., requested that it be returned to Virginia, where
6588-632: The addition of what became known as the Willey Amendment. President Lincoln signed the bill on December 31, 1862. Voters in western Virginia approved the Willey Amendment on March 26, 1863. President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which exempted from emancipation the border states (four slave states loyal to the Union ) as well as some territories occupied by Union forces within Confederate states. Two additional counties were added to West Virginia in late 1863, Berkeley and Jefferson . The slaves in Berkeley were also under exemption but not those in Jefferson County. As of
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#17327931987856696-454: The best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become
6804-464: The best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. At
6912-427: The census of 1860, the 49 exempted counties held some 6000 slaves over 21 years of age who would not have been emancipated, about 40% of the total slave population. The terms of the Willey Amendment only freed children, at birth or as they came of age, and prohibited the importation of slaves. West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863, and the last slave state admitted to the Union. Eighteen months later,
7020-421: The conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California. Following
7128-535: The deadliest in U.S. history. Although air pollution has been reduced, health problems associated with pollution continue. Brown haze known as " smog " has been substantially abated after federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust. An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts , soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism. Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase;
7236-494: The dividing line between the slave and free states was called the Mason-Dixon line (between Maryland and Pennsylvania), with its westward extension being the Ohio River . The 1787 Constitutional Convention debated slavery, and for a time slavery was a major impediment to passage of the new constitution . As a compromise, slavery was acknowledged but never mentioned explicitly in the Constitution. The Fugitive Slave Clause , Article 4, section 2, clause 3, for example, refers to
7344-439: The enslaved population in the colonies had a higher life expectancy than in the West Indies and South America, leading to a rapid increase in population in the decades prior to the American Revolution . Organized political and social movements to abolish slavery began in the mid-18th century. The sentiments of the American Revolution and the promise of equality evoked by the Declaration of Independence stood in contrast to
7452-520: The government to adequately sustain the populations living on them. As a result, settler colonialism was a calamity for indigenous people. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo , have described the actions of the California government as a genocide , as well as the 40th governor of California Gavin Newsom . Benjamin Madley estimates that from 1846 to 1873, between 9,492 and 16,092 indigenous people were killed, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by
7560-406: The highest bidder at a public auction if the Indian could not provide sufficient bond or bail. The new settlers took 10,000 to 27,000 California Native Americans as forced laborers, including 4,000 to 7,000 children. In April 1863, after the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation , the California legislature abolished all forms of legal indenture and apprenticeship for Native Americans. At
7668-454: The importation of slaves. In 1863, voters approved the Willey Amendment, which provided for gradual abolition of slavery, with the last enslaved people scheduled to be freed in 1884. On February 3, 1865, the state legislature approved immediate abolition. The Restored Government of Virginia – the Unionist government that governed the limited territory then under Union control that had not left to form West Virginia – voted to end slavery at
7776-410: The indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including forest gardening to ensure the regular availability of food and medicinal plants . This was a form of sustainable agriculture . To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of controlled burning . This practice was recognized for its benefits by
7884-572: The interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga , a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River . After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga , would found
7992-531: The largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history was announced for the Klamath River , as a win for California tribes. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km ), California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas . California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California , comprising
8100-844: The middle of the state lies the California Central Valley , bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland. Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta , the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as
8208-411: The momentum for antislavery reform appeared to run out of steam, with half the states having already abolished slavery ( Northeast ), prohibited it from the start ( Midwest ), or committed to eliminating it, and half committed to continuing the institution indefinitely ( South ). The potential for political conflict over slavery at the federal level made politicians concerned about the balance of power in
8316-421: The name Las Californias to the peninsula of Baja California (in modern-day Mexico). As Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland, the region known as California , or Las Californias , grew. Eventually it included lands north of the peninsula, Alta California , part of which became the present-day U.S. state of California. A 2017 state legislative document states, "Numerous theories exist as to
8424-560: The nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions , with 19 million and 10 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most ; California's capital is Sacramento . The state's 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
8532-526: The northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California. The Central Valley , a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. 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. California's economy
8640-401: The origin and meaning of the word 'California, ' " and that all anyone knows is the name was added to a map by 1541 "presumably by a Spanish navigator." The name most likely 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 Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo . Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be
8748-503: The other compromises of the Constitution was the creation of the Three-Fifths Clause by which slave states acquired increased representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College equivalent to 60% of their disenfranchised slave populations. Slave states had wanted 100% of their slaves to be counted, whereas Northern states argued that none should be. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed just before
8856-414: The population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000. The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin . In 1849,
8964-733: The pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California. During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast . Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and
9072-469: The races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert." As in other American states, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their lands by American settlers , like miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as
9180-600: The same reason – for the plantation and spreading of slavery". In 1854, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was superseded by the Kansas–Nebraska Act , which allowed white male settlers in the new territories to determine, by vote ( popular sovereignty ), whether they would allow slavery within each territory. The result was that pro- and anti-slavery elements flooded into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, leading to bloody fighting . An effort
9288-604: The slave trade was legal; this took place in 1847. Slavery in the District of Columbia remained legal until 1862, when, over strong opposition from slaveholding residents, Congress passed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act . Many former slaveholders in the District refused to obey the new law which required Congress to pass supplemental legislation in 1862 that allowed enslaved people to file petitions for their own freedom. Although it did not become
9396-614: The start of the Civil War, there were 34 states in the United States, 15 of which were slave states. Eleven of these slave states, after conventions devoted to the topic, issued declarations of secession from the United States, created the Confederate States of America , and were represented in the Confederate Congress . The slave states that stayed in the Union – Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky (called border states ) – retained their representatives in
9504-654: The state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act . Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which
9612-574: The state on March 4, 2020, and remained in effect until Governor Gavin Newsom ended it in February 2023. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, which was ended in January 2021. Cultural and language revitalization efforts among indigenous Californians have progressed among tribes as of 2022. Some land returns to indigenous stewardship have occurred. In 2022,
9720-515: The state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California gold rush . By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870,
9828-620: The state, and develop a high-tech region, now known as Silicon Valley . As a result of this, California is a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the US center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust , California had the fifth-largest economy in the world. In the mid and late twentieth century, race-related incidents occurred. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to riots, such as
9936-865: The status of most black people, either free or enslaved, in the colonies. Despite this, thousands of black Americans fought for the Patriot cause for a combination of reasons. Thousands also joined the British, encouraged by offers of freedom such as the Philipsburg Proclamation . In the 1770s, enslaved black people throughout New England began sending petitions to northern legislatures demanding freedom. 5 Northern states adopted policies to at least gradually abolish slavery : Pennsylvania in 1780, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 1783, and Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. The Republic of Vermont had limited slavery in 1777, while it
10044-511: The ten southernmost counties, and Northern California , comprising the 48 northernmost counties. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America , alongside Baja California Sur ). In
10152-407: The time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state
10260-570: The transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent Mexican rule. In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions , which controlled most of
10368-465: The war's end. The Union-occupied state of Tennessee abolished slavery by popular vote on a constitutional amendment that took effect February 22, 1865. However, slavery legally persisted in Delaware, Kentucky, and (to a very limited extent, due to a trade ban but continued gradual abolition) New Jersey, until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery throughout
10476-613: The watershed of the Sacramento River , while the southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley is the watershed for the San Joaquin River . Both valleys derive their names from the rivers that flow through them. With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained deep enough for several inland cities to be seaports . Slave states and free states In the United States before 1865,
10584-544: Was abandoned by 1841. During the War of Mexican Independence , Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain , which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited local trade prospects. Following Mexican independence, California ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over
10692-424: Was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War . The California gold rush started in 1848 and led to social and demographic changes, including depopulation of Indigenous tribes. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state in 1850 , as a free state , following the Compromise of 1850 . The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are
10800-517: Was compounded by the subsequent admission of Oregon as a free state in 1859. The following table shows the balance between slave and free states that began in 1812. The Statehood columns provide the year the state either ratified the U.S. Constitution or was admitted to the Union . The date ranges in the Abolition column for Free States indicate when gradual abolition laws were adopted and when slavery finally ended, except for states where slavery
10908-552: Was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to
11016-792: Was generally abolitionist: In a plan endorsed by Abraham Lincoln, slavery in the District of Columbia , which the Southern contingent had protected, was abolished in 1862. In Southern states, freedom for slaves typically followed the Union army's gaining control of an area. The Emancipation Proclamation declared all enslaved people in areas then under Confederate control free, but, in practice, freedom required either slaves reaching Union lines or Union forces reaching their area. As Union forces advanced from January 1, 1863, to June 19, 1865 , slaves were freed. West Virginia did not abolish slavery in its first proposed constitution of 1861, though it did ban
11124-607: Was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham . In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to
11232-573: Was initiated to organize Kansas for admission as a slave state, paired with Minnesota , but the admission of Kansas as a slave state was blocked because its proposed pro-slavery constitution (the Lecompton Constitution ) had not been approved in an honest election. Anti-slavery proponents during the " Bleeding Kansas " period of the later 1850s were called Free-Staters and Free-Soilers , and fought against pro-slavery Border Ruffians from Missouri. The animosity escalated throughout
11340-714: Was not usually the purpose of these small-scale battles. Men and women generally had different roles in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as joyas , who they saw as "men who dressed as women". Joyas were responsible for death , burial , and mourning rituals , and they performed women's social roles. Indigenous societies had terms such as two-spirit to refer to them. The Chumash referred to them as 'aqi. The early Spanish settlers detested and sought to eliminate them. The first Europeans to explore
11448-455: Was outlawed in a specific year. From 1812 through 1850, maintaining the balance of free and slave state votes in the Senate was considered of paramount importance if the Union were to be preserved, and states were typically admitted in pairs: California was admitted as a free state in 1850 without an accompanying slave state, though certain concessions were made to the slave states as part of
11556-502: Was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California , with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of
11664-573: Was still independent before it joined the United States as the 14th state in 1791. These state jurisdictions thus enacted the first abolition laws in the Atlantic World . By 1804 (including New York (1799) and New Jersey (1804)), all of the Northern states had abolished slavery or set measures in place to gradually abolish it, although there were still hundreds of ex-slaves working without pay as indentured servants in Northern states as late as
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