California State Guide

California originally referred to the entire region composed of the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja California and land in the current U.S. state of California. The states of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Wyoming, were claimed by Spain and Mexico but were almost totally undeveloped, with about 100 settlers in Arizona.

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 griffons 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.

Others suggest the word California may come from the early Spanish explorers who entered California via the hot southern regions and referred to California as being "hot as an oven" or a "lime oven" ("cali > hot", "fornus->forno > oven" + ending "ia" for a place; or with "cal > lime"). It may be derived from caliente fornalia, Spanish for hot furnace, or it may come from calida fornax, Latin for hot climate.

California State Guide - Geography

California borders the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the Mexican state of Baja California. The state has many natural features, including an expansive central valley, tall mountains, arid deserts, and hundreds of miles of scenic coastline. With an area of 160,000 square miles (411,000 km²) it is the third largest state in the U.S and is larger than Germany in size. Most major cities are at or near the Pacific coastline, notably Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach, Oakland, Santa Ana/Orange County, Riverside/Moreno Valley, San Bernardino and San Diego. However, the capital, Sacramento, is in the Central Valley. The geographic center of the state is located in North Fork, California.

California's geography is rich, complex, and varied. In the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, a huge, fertile valley bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the granite Sierra Nevada to the east, the volcanic Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. Mountain-fed rivers, dams, and canals provide water to irrigate the Central Valley. The water supply for much of the state is provided by the State Water Project. The Central Valley Project supports some municipal water supplies, though it primarily provides water to irrigated agriculture. With dredging, several rivers have become sufficiently large and deep that several inland cities (notably Stockton and Sacramento) are seaports. The hot, fertile Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of the United States's food, yet near freezing temperatures are not uncommon during winter which sometimes wipe out portions of crops. The southern part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San Joaquin Valley (drained by the San Joaquin River), while the northern half is known as the Sacramento Valley (drained by the Sacramento River). The Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta is a major estuary that supports a brackish ecosystem while serving as the water supply hub for much of the state's population. The Channel Islands are located in the southern part of the state, stretching from Santa Barbara to Orange County. These islands have few inhabitants, but the northernmost islands are a national park. They and the largest island, Santa Catalina Island are attractive to visitors.

In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning Snowy Range in Spanish), which include the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,494 ft (4418 m). Also located in the Sierra are the 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 are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential seabird habitat. To the west 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 most southern glacier in the US (Palisade Glacier).

About 35% of the state's total surface area is covered by forests. California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. Though other states have a higher percentage of their land area covered by forests, in terms of total area, California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Most of the forest is found in 2 areas: the northwestern part of the state and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller forests, mainly consisting of oaks, can be found along the coast ranges of California closer to the coast, and also in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller areas of pine forests can be found in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains of Southern California and also in the mountain areas of central San Diego County. Deserts in California make up about 25% of the total surface area. In the south lay the Transverse Ranges and a large salt lake, the Salton Sea. 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 the Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley routinely experiencing extreme high temperatures during the summer. These large deserts kept travel between California and Mexico to a bare minimum during the colonial period. The Coachella Valley in Riverside County is famous for its popular tourist destination Palm Springs, California. Other Coachella Valley communities include Bermuda Dunes, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Indio, Coachella and Cathedral City.

Along the densely populated and long California coast are several major metropolitan areas, including San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Santa Ana-Irvine-Anaheim, Riverside-San Bernardino, California and San Diego. Climates near the Pacific Ocean are remarkably moderate compared with inland climates. Winter temperatures seldom reach freezing and summer temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (low 30's Celsius).

California is famous for earthquakes due to the presence of a number of faults, in particular the San Andreas Fault. While powerful earthquakes in the United States have occurred in other states such as Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Missouri (along the New Madrid fault), people are more aware of California's earthquakes due to their frequency and tendency to strike in highly populated areas.

California is also home to several volcanoes, some active such as Mammoth Mountain. Other volcanoes include Lassen Peak, which erupted from 1914 and 1921, and Mount Shasta.

Adjacent states

* Oregon - north
* Nevada - east
* Arizona - southeast
* Baja California of Mexico - south
* The Pacific Ocean - west

California State Guide - Climate

Different regions of California have very different climates, varying from subtropic to subarctic depending on their latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast. Most of the state has a Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. The influence of the ocean generally moderates temperature extremes, creating warmer winters and substantially cooler summers. The cool California Current offshore, enhanced by upwelling of cold sub-surface waters, often creates summer fog near the coast. Further inland, the climate becomes more continental with colder winters and markedly hotter summers. The temperature gradient between immediate coast and low-lying inland valleys in the north is about 7 °F (4 °C) in winter (the coast being warmer) and in summer roughly 25 °F (14 °C) (the interior being warmer). In the south, the figures are approximately 4 °F and 23 °F (2 °C and 13 °C), respectively; however 4 °F and 35 °F (2 °C and 20 °C) between Santa Barbara and Death Valley.

Westerly winds from the ocean also bring moisture, and the northern parts of the state generally receive higher annual rainfall amounts than the south. California's mountain ranges influence the climate as well: moisture-laden air from the west cools as it ascends the mountains, dropping moisture; some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Northwestern California has a temperate climate with rainfall of 15–50 inches (400–1270 mm) per year. Some areas of Coast Redwood forest receive over 100 inches of precipitation per year (2540 mm). The Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coastal areas: parts of the valley are often filled with thick fog, similar to that found in the coastal valleys. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, have a mountain climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer.

On the east side of the mountains is a drier rain shadow. California's desert climate regions lie east of the high Sierra Nevada and Southern California's Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges. The low deserts east of the southern California mountains, including the Imperial and Coachella valleys and the lower Colorado River, are part of the Sonoran Desert, with hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters; the higher elevation deserts of eastern California, including the Mojave Desert, Owens Valley, and the Modoc Plateau, are part of the Great Basin region, with hot summers and cold winters. During the summer months, especially from July through early September, the region is affected by the Mexican Monsoon (also called the "southwest monsoon"), which drives moisture from the tropical Pacific, Gulf of California, and/or Gulf of Mexico into the deserts, setting off brief, but often torrential thunderstorms, particularly over mountainous terrain.

In the northern portion of the Mojave Desert on the east side of the state is Death Valley, which is the hottest spot on the Western Hemisphere. It is common in the summer for temperatures in the valley to reach 120 °F (49 °C). The highest temperature in the Western Hemisphere, 134 °F (56.6 °C), was recorded in Death Valley on July 10, 1913. Temperatures of 130 °F (54 °C) or higher have been recorded as recently as 2005. The 24-hour average July temperature in Death Valley is 101 °F (38 °C) (1961—1990 standard).

Despite its long coastline, California is not vulnerable to tropical cyclones. Because of the cold California Current from the North Pacific Ocean and the fact that the storms tend to "steer" West, California has only been hit with one tropical storm in recorded history, a storm which came ashore in 1939 and dumped heavy rainfall on the Los Angeles Area and interior deserts. Uncommonly, the remnants of a tropical system will affect California after becoming extratropical.

California State Guide - History

The area was inhabited by more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans before European contact. On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed in what is now San Diego Bay claiming it for Spain. Spanish traders made sporadic visits with the Manila Galleons as early as 1565. The British explorer Sir Francis Drake made contact in 1579. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602.

Spain colonized the territory with the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolà in conjunction with the creation of the system of Military Districts and Spanish Missions in California between 1769 and 1823. California ceded from Spain and became part of Mexico resultant to the Mexican War of Independence (1810-21). During the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), in the town of Sonoma forty U.S. settlers revolted and established the California Republic, an independent republic, June 14, 1846. This short lived independent republic was annexed by the United States on July 9, 1846. The Mexican officials fled without a fight. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought a huge population of immigrants into the area, and California became the 31st state of the United States in 1850.

The entire region originally known as California was composed of the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja California and much of the land in the current states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, known as Alta California. In these early times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The name comes from Las sergas de Esplandián (Adventures of Splandian), a 16th century novel, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, where there is an island paradise called California. (For further discussion, see: Origin of the name California.)

Pre-European California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in Native northern 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. Except for the Mojave Indians living along the Colorado River no California Indians grew any domesticated crops.

The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in 1542 working for the Spanish Hernan Cortes. The first to explore the entire coast and claim possession of it was the English man Francis Drake in 1579. Beginning in 1769, Spanish missionaries set up California Missions along the California coast. In addition four small towns or presidos were set up. Upon Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government, and were quickly dissolved and abandoned in 1832. Friends of the Mexican government officials got most of the livestock and property. The total Spanish speaking population in California in 1846, when the U.S. took over, was about 4000. Many of California's major cities were settled by non-Spanish immigrants around these missions and presidios. They preserved only their religious names (Los Angeles for the Virgin Mary. San Francisco for St. Francis of Assisi, San Jose for St. Joseph of Nazareth and San Diego for St. Didacus).

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence ended, giving California its independence from Spain. For the following quarter century, California was a remote northern province of the nation of Mexico. Cattle ranches, or ranchos, emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California, and cattle and horses introduced into California in the 1770's doubled in population with minimal care about every five years.

Beginning in the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive, harbingers of the great changes that would sweep California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts surrounding California.

In this period, some nobles of Imperial Russia made brief attempts to explore and claim parts of California, particularly at Fort Ross, 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 from the area’s lack of frosts, which kills mosquitoes 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 U.S. citizens, Europeans, and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. In 1850, the state was admitted to the union USA as a free state (one in which slavery was prohibited).

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 U.S. citizens 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 was widely grown (especially in the form of oranges), 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, U.S. agricultural production.

California State Guide - Population

As of 2006, California has an estimated population of 37,172,015. California is the 13th fastest-growing state. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 1,557,112 people (that is 2,781,539 births minus 1,224,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 751,419 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 1,415,879 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 564,100 people, and a decrease of 21,669.

California is the most populous state—more than 12 percent of U.S. citizens live in the state. California's population is larger than all but 33 countries. About four million more people live in California than in all of Canada.

California has eight of the top 50 US cities in terms of population. Los Angeles is the nation's second largest city with a population of 3,845,541 people, followed by San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), San Francisco (14th), Long Beach (34th), Fresno (37th), Sacramento (38th) and Oakland (44th).

California State Guide - Economy

As of 2005, California's economy is larger than all but seven national economies in the world. California is responsible for 13% of the United States gross domestic product (GDP). As of 2005, The gross state product (GSP) is about $1.62 trillion (, making it greater than that of every other U.S. state, and most countries in the world (by Purchasing Power Parity).

California is also the home of several significant economic regions such as Hollywood (entertainment), the California Central Valley (agriculture), Silicon Valley (computers and high tech), and wine producing regions such as Santa Barbara and Northern California's Wine Country.

The predominant industry, more than twice as large as the next, is agriculture, (including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and wine). This is followed by aerospace; entertainment, primarily television by dollar volume, although many movies are still made in California; light manufacturing, including computer hardware and software; and the mining of borax.

Per capita personal income was $4,846 as of 2005, ranking 13th in the nation. Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and profession. The Central Valley has the most extreme contrasts of income, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. Recently, the San Joaquin Valley was characterized as one of the most economically depressed regions in the U.S., on par with the region of Appalachia.

Many coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the U.S., notably San Francisco and Marin County. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, are currently emerging from economic downturn caused by the dot.com bust, which caused the loss of over 250,000 jobs in Northern California alone. Recent (Spring 2005) economic data indicate that economic growth has resumed in California at 4.3%. The international boom in housing prices has been most pronounced in California, with the median property price in the state rising to about the half-million dollar mark in April 2005.

California levies a 9.3% maximum variable rate income tax, with 6 tax brackets. It collects about $40 billion in income taxes. California's minimum combined state, county and local sales and use tax is 8.25%. It collects about $28 billion in sales taxes. The rate is higher in cities and counties with special taxing districts. All real property are taxable and are assessed at fair market value at the time of purchase, limiting property tax income. California collects $33 billion in property taxes.

California State Guide - Education

California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires 40% of state revenues to be spent on education.

The elementary schools are of varying effectiveness. The quality of the local schools depends strongly on the local tax base, and the size of the local administration. In some regions, administrative costs divert a significant amount of educational monies from instructional purposes. In poor regions, literacy rates may fall below 70%. One thing they all have in common is a state mandate to teach fourth grade students about the history of California, including the role of the early missions; most schools implement this by requiring students to complete a multiple medium project.

Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. They accept students from roughly age 14 to 18, with mandatory education ceasing at age 16. In many districts, junior high schools or middle schools teach electives with a strong skills-based curriculum, for ages from 11 to 13. Elementary schools teach pure skills, history and social studies, with optional half-day kindergartens beginning at age 5. Mandatory full-time instruction begins at age 6.

The preeminent state research university is the University of California (UC), which employs more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution in the world and is considered the world's finest public university system. The nine general UC campuses are in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside, and Merced. The University of California, San Francisco, teaches only graduate health-sciences students, and the Hastings College of Law, also in San Francisco, is one of UC's four law schools. The UC system is intended to accept students from the top 12.5% of college-bound students, and provide most graduate studies and research. The University of California also administers federal laboratories for the Federal Department of Energy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The California State University (CSU) system is also considered one of the better educational systems in the world. With over 400,000 students, the CSU system is the largest university system in the United States. It is intended to accept the top one-third (1/3) of high school students. The universities within CSU are primarily intended for undergraduate education, although many of the larger campuses, such as CSU Long Beach, CSU Fullerton, CSU Fresno, San Diego State, and San José State, are becoming more research oriented, especially in applied sciences. A marked change and a shift from the Kerr Master Plan of 1960 is to begin in 2007 as the CSU will now begin granting doctoral level degrees (Ed.D.) in education. Kevin Starr (the State Librarian) and others have argued that this small change is the beginning of a larger reorganization of higher education in California.

The California Community Colleges system provides lower division "General Education" courses, whose credit units are transferable to the CSU and UC systems, as well as vocational education, remedial education, and continuing education programs. It awards certificates and associate degrees. It is composed of 109 colleges organized into 72 districts, serving a student population of over 2.9 million.

Notable private universities and colleges include Stanford University, the University of Southern California (USC), the University of San Francisco (USF), Santa Clara University, the University of the Pacific, the Claremont Colleges, Occidental College and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (which administers the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA).

California has hundreds more private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. This leads to many unique entertainment and educational opportunities for residents. For example, Southern California, with one of the highest densities of post-secondary institutions in the world, has a very large base of classically trained vocalists that compete in large choir festivals. Near Los Angeles, there are numerous art and film institutes, including the CalArts Institute.

California State Guide - Professional sports teams

California's large population has helped to make it home to many professional sports teams, including fifteen major professional sports league franchises, far more than any other state. Since the re-location of the Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Rams in the 1990s, Greater Los Angeles Area is the largest metropolitan area not to have at least one team in each of the four major sports league. The San Francisco Bay Area has their four major league teams spread in three cities, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. California hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as the 1994 FIFA World Cup and several Super Bowls. Each year, the California State Games take place here.

Major League Baseball

* Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
* Los Angeles Dodgers
* Oakland Athletics
* San Diego Padres
* San Francisco Giants

National Basketball Association

* Golden State Warriors
* Los Angeles Clippers
* Los Angeles Lakers
* Sacramento Kings

National Football League

* Oakland Raiders
* San Diego Chargers
* San Francisco 49ers

National Hockey League

* Anaheim Ducks
* Los Angeles Kings
* San Jose Sharks

Major League Soccer

* Club Deportivo Chivas USA
* Los Angeles Galaxy

National Lacrosse League

* San Jose Stealth

Major League Lacrosse

* San Francisco Dragons
* Los Angeles Riptide

Arena Football League

* San Jose Sabercats
* Los Angeles Avengers
* San Diego Riptide

American Basketball Association

* Beijing Aoshen Olympian
* Carson Buzz
* Fresno Heatwave
* San Diego Wildcats

Women's National Basketball Association

* Los Angeles Sparks
* Sacramento Monarchs

Minor leagues

* Baseball: California League - class A, Pacific Coast League - class AAA and Golden Baseball League - independent.
* Basketball: Continental Basketball Association.
* Hockey: East Coast Hockey League.

Article Source: Wikipedia