California

Territory (land area)	155,959 sq miles = 403,933 sq kms (Ranks 3^rd among states)
Population (July 2005 estimate):	36,132,147
Admitted:	September 9, 1850, as the 31st state of the US
Capital:	Sacramento
Largest cities (incl. metropolitan area):	Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco
Abbreviation:	CA
Nickname:	The Golden State
Region:	The West, The West Coast

Although the English sailor and privateer Sir Francis Drake explored the coast of California in 1579, European settlement of the area began only in the late 18^th century, when Spanish Franciscan missionaries founded a string of missions along the coast, followed by cattle ranchers. But California remained a remote northern province of Mexico after it became independent from Spain in 1821. As a result of the Mexican War, the United States took possession of California in 1848.

California was the first US state to be founded in the West, shortly after the famous gold rush in 1849 attracted people from the East Coast to the San Francisco area in the northern part. Large-scale settlement began after the first transcontinental railroad line was completed in 1869, and later settlers began to cultivate the fertile Central Valley between the coastal range and the Sierra Nevada, turning California into the primary producer of various fruits and vegetables, orange, grape and wine in the US. The attractions of Southern California were discovered in the late 19^th century, and Hollywood soon achieved worldwide fame as the center of the American motion-picture and entertainment industry.

Millions of people from other parts of the US and all over the world have been attracted by the permanent sunshine, the sandy beaches, and the career opportunities to the Los Angeles area, turning it into the second largest metropolitan area in the country, with more than 16 million people. As a result, since the 1960s California has been the state with the largest population in the US, with an estimated 36 million people in 2005. This population is also among the most mixed in the US. Hispanics make up about one-third of the state’s population, and their number is growing fast with illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border every day. California also has the largest groups of Asian immigrants in the US, who make up more than 10% of the state’s population: the origins of Chinese community in San Francisco is go back to the late 19^th century, while most of the Korean, Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants arrived after World War II. California continues to attract foreign immigrants: one-fourth of the state’s population were born outside the US, and close to 40% speak a language other than English at home.

But California has other attractions than the beaches of Los Angeles or the unique atmosphere of San Francisco: the Sierra Nevada mountains include the highest peak of the Continental US, Mount Whitney (4421 m), as well as the famous Yosemite National Park, and the attractive alpine resort area of Lake Tahoe. But one-fourth of California’s area is covered by deserts, and the lowest and hottest point of the entire US, Death Valley, is also located in California, just 200 miles southwest from Mount Whitney!