In February 1848, Mexico and the United States signed a treaty that ended the Mexican war and ceded a large part of the southwest, including present-day California, to the United States. Native horticulturists practiced various forms of forest gardening and fire rod agriculture in forests, grasslands, mixed forests and wetlands, ensuring that desired food and medicinal plants remained available. The natives controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology that prevented larger, catastrophic fires and maintained free-rotating low-density agriculture; a kind of wild permaculture. European explorers from Spain and England explored California's Pacific coast beginning in the mid-16th century.
Francisco de Ulloa explored the west coast of present-day Mexico, including the Gulf of California, demonstrating that Baja California was a peninsula, but despite his discoveries, the myth persisted in European circles that California was an island. Rumors of fabulously rich cities located somewhere along the California coast, as well as of a possible Northwest Passage that would provide a much shorter route to the Indies, provided an incentive to explore more. The first Europeans to explore the California coast were members of a Spanish sailing expedition led by Captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542 and reached at least as far north as the island of San Miguel. Cabrillo and his men discovered that there was essentially nothing that the Spaniards could easily exploit in California; located on the extreme limits of Spain's exploration and trade, it would remain essentially unexplored and unstable for the next 234 years.
The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived on Spanish ships in Morro Bay. The Spaniards divided California into two parts, Baja California and Alta California, as provinces of New Spain (Mexico). Baja California or Baja California consisted of the Baja California Peninsula and ended roughly in San Diego, California, where Alta California began. The eastern and northern boundaries of Alta California were very undefined, since the Spaniards, despite the lack of physical presence and of settlements, essentially claimed everything in what is now the western United States.
The first permanent mission in Baja California, Mission of Our Lady of Loreto Conchó, was founded on October 15, 1697 by Jesuit priest Juan María Salvatierra (1648—171), accompanied by the crew of a small boat and six soldiers. After the establishment of Misiones in Alta California after 1769, the Spaniards treated Baja California and Alta California as a single administrative unit, part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with Monterrey as their capital. Almost all the missions in Baja California were established by members of the Jesuit order with the support of a few soldiers. After a power dispute between Charles III of Spain and the Jesuits, the Jesuit schools were closed and the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico and South America in 1767 and deported to Spain.
After the forced expulsion of the Jesuit order, most of the missions were taken over by Franciscan friars and later by Dominican friars. Both groups were under much more direct control of the Spanish monarchy. This reorganization abandoned many missions in Sonora, Mexico and Baja California. One of Spain's achievements in the Seven Years' War was the French territory of Louisiana, which was ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Another potential colonial power already established in the Pacific was Russia, whose maritime trade in fur, mostly sea otters and sea lions, was pushing from Alaska to the lower reaches of the Pacific Northwest.
These skins could be marketed in China for big profits. The remoteness and isolation of California, the lack of large organized tribes, the lack of farming traditions, the absence of domestic animals larger than a dog, and a food supply composed mainly of acorns (unpleasant for most Europeans) meant that missions in California would be very difficult to establish and maintain and make the area unattractive to most potential settlers. A few soldiers and friars funded by the Church and the State would form the backbone of the proposed California settlement. Fewer mouths to feed temporarily eased the drainage of San Diego's scarce supplies, but within weeks, acute hunger and increased disease (scurvy) threatened to force the San Diego Mission to abandon.
Portolá finally decided that if no relief ship arrived by March 19, 1770, he would leave to return to the New Spain missions on the Baja California Peninsula the next morning because there were not enough provisions to wait any longer and the men had not come to starve. At three o'clock in the afternoon of March 19, 1770, as if by a miracle, the sails of the sailboat San Antonio, loaded with relief supplies, were discernible on the horizon. The Spanish settlement of Alta California would continue. Finally, 21 California missions were established along the California coast, from San Diego to San Francisco, about 500 miles (800 km) offshore.
Nearly all missions were located 30 miles (48 km) from the coast, and almost no exploration or settlement was conducted in the Central Valley or Sierra Nevada. The only expeditions anywhere near the Central Valley and the Sierras were the rare raids by soldiers to recover fugitive Indians who had escaped from the Missions. The populated territory of some 15,000 square miles (39,000 km) represented approximately 10% of California's eventual territory of 156,000 square miles (400,000 km). In 1786, Jean-François de Galaup, Count of La Pérouse, led a group of scientists and artists who compiled an account of the California missionary system, the land and the people.
Merchants, whalers and scientific missions will continue in the coming decades. The California Missions, after all were established, were located a day away on horseback to facilitate communication and were joined by the El Camino Real trail. Usually, these missions were carried out by two or three friars and three to ten soldiers. Practically all physical work was done by indigenous people who were convinced or forced to join the missions.
The parents provided instructions for making adobe bricks, building mission buildings, planting fields, digging irrigation ditches, growing new grains and vegetables, herding cattle and horses, singing, speaking Spanish, and understanding the Catholic faith, all that was thought to be necessary to bring the Indians in order to support themselves and to your new church. Spain made about 30 of these big grants, almost every square league (1 Spanish league %3D 2.6 miles, 4.2 km) each in size. The total land granted to settlers in the Spanish colonial era was about 800,000 acres (3,237 km) or about 35,000 acres (142 km) each. The few owners of these large ranches were inspired by the landowner nobility in Spain and dedicated themselves to living in great style.
The rest of the population hoped to support them. Its workers, mostly unpaid, were almost all Indians or laborers trained in Spanish who had learned to ride horses and to grow some crops. Most of the ranch workers were paid with room and board, rough clothing, hard housing and no salary. The main products of these ranches were cattle, horses and sheep, most of which lived practically in the wild.
Cattle were killed mainly for fresh meat, as well as hides and tallow (fat) that could be exchanged or sold for money or goods. As herds of cattle increased, there came a time when almost everything that could be made of leather were doors, window covers, stools, vests, leggings, vests, lariats (riatas), saddles, boots, etc. Since there was no refrigeration then, a cow was often killed for the fresh meat of the day and the skin and sebum were rescued for sale later. After taking the skin and tallow of cattle, their carcasses were rotted or fed to the California brown bears that roamed wild in California at the time, or to feed the dog crates that normally lived on each ranch.
In 1821, Mexico became independent from Spain. Alta California became a territory rather than a complete state. The territorial capital remained in Monterey, California, with a governor as executive officer. Mexico, after independence, was unstable with about 40 changes of government, in the 27 years prior to 1848 the average duration of government was 7.9 months.
In Alta California, Mexico inherited a large, poor and backward, sparsely settled province that paid little or no net tax revenue to the Mexican state. In addition, Alta California had a declining mission system, as the Mission's indigenous population in Alta California continued to decline rapidly. The number of settlers in Alta California, always a minority of the total population, increased slowly, mostly in more births than deaths in California's population. After the closure of the Anza trail across the Colorado River in 1781, immigration from Mexico was almost entirely done by boat.
California remained a sparsely populated and isolated country. In addition, several Europeans and Americans were naturalized as Mexican citizens and settled in early California. Some of them became ranchers and merchants during the Mexican period, such as Abel Stearns. Before Alta California became part of the Mexican state, about 30 Spanish land concessions had already been made throughout Alta California to soldiers of the Presidio and government officials and to some friends and family of the governors of Alta California, some of whom were grandchildren of the original Anza of 1775 expedition settlers.
The Colonies Act of Mexico of 1824 established rules for applying for the grant of land in California; and by 1828, the rules for establishing the grant of land were codified in the Mexican Regulations (Regulations). The laws sought to break the monopoly of Franciscan missions, while paving the way for more settlers to reach California by making it easier to obtain land grants. When the missions were secularized, the mission's assets and livestock were supposed to be allocated mostly to the mission's Indians. In practice, almost all of the mission's assets and livestock were purchased by the nearly 455 large ranches that the governors granted, mostly to friends and family, at little or no cost.
The ranch owners claimed about 8,600,000 acres (35,000 km), with an average of 18,900 acres (76 km each). This land was distributed almost entirely on former mission land about 30 miles (48 km) from the coast. Mexican land concessions were provisional until they were liquidated and operated for five years, and often had very indefinite limits and sometimes conflicting property claims. The boundaries of each ranch were almost never inspected and marked, and often relied on local landmarks that often changed over time.
Since the government relied on import tariffs for its revenues, it had virtually no property tax, the property tax when it was introduced with the US. UU. The concessionaire could not subdivide or rent the land without approval. The ranch owners tried to live in a great way, and the result was similar to that of a barony.
For these few ranch owners and families, this was California's Golden Age; for the vast majority it wasn't golden. Much of the agriculture, vineyards and orchards established by the Missions were allowed to deteriorate as the rapidly declining Indian population of the Mission needed less food, and the missionaries and soldiers supporting the Missions disappeared. The new ranches and villages, which grow slowly, mostly only grew enough food to eat and trade with an occasional merchant or whaling ship that entered a California port to trade, get fresh water, replenish their firewood, and get fresh vegetables. The main products of these ranches were cattle hides (called California greenbacks) and tallow (fat extracted to make candles and soap) that were exchanged for other finished goods and goods.
This leather and tallow trade was mainly carried out by Boston-based boats that traveled between 14,000 miles (23,000 km) and 18,000 miles (29,000 km) around Cape Horn to carry finished goods and goods to trade with California ranches for their skins and tallow. The cattle and horses that provided the skins and tallow grew essentially wild. The main forces available to the United States in California were sailors in blue jackets and U, S. Marines aboard Pacific Squadron ships.
Speculating that the war with Mexico over Texas and other lands was quite possible, the United States,. The Navy had sent several additional naval vessels to the Pacific in 1845 to protect the U.S. It took an average of 200 days for the ships to travel over 17,000 miles (27,000 km) from the east coast around South America's Cape Horn to California. Initially, there was little resistance from anyone in California, as they replaced the dysfunctional and ineffective Mexican government, which had already been replaced by the Californians.
By 1846, the Mexican government had already had 40 presidents in the first 24 years of its existence. Most of the new settlers and Californians were neutral or actively supporting the revolt. An independent group of men called Los Osos raised the Bear Flag of the Republic of California over Sonoma. The republic existed barely more than 25 days before Frémont returned and took over William B.
Ide, the leader of the bear flag revolt. Today's California state flag is based on this original bear flag and still contains the words “Republic of California”. Sutter and his men and supplies at Sutter's Fort joined the revolt. Stockton, a much more aggressive leader, asked Fremont to form a joint force of Fremont soldiers, explorers, guides and others, and a volunteer militia, many of whom were former Bear Flag Revoltors.
This unit, called the California Battalion, was grouped in the U.S. Service and were paid regular army salaries. On July 19, Frémont's newly formed California Battalion increased to about 160 men. These men included Fremont's 30 surveying men and his 30 explorers and hunters, U, S.
Navy officer to manage his two cannons, a company of Indians trained by Sutter and many other permanent California settlers from several different countries, as well as American settlers. The members of the California Battalion were mainly used to keep and maintain order in California's rapidly surrendering cities. On August 13, 1846, a joint force of U, S. Marines, blue jacket sailors and parts of Frémont's California Battalion carried by the USS Cyane entered Pueblo de Los Angeles, California, with flags waving and playing bands.
Gillespie, Frémont's second in command of the California Battalion, with an inadequate force of 40 to 50 men, was left to occupy and maintain order in the largest city (about 3,500) in Alta California, Los Angeles. California government officials had already fled Alta California. In September 1846, Californians José María Flores, José Antonio Carrillo and Andrés Pico organized and led a campaign of resistance against the U.S. incursion in Los Angeles the previous month.
As a result, outnumbered US troops evacuated the city over the next few months. For the next four months, U, S. The forces fought small skirmishes with the California Lancers in the Battle of San Pasqual (in San Diego, California), the Battle of Dominguez Rancho (near Los Angeles) and the Battle of the San Gabriel River (near Los Angeles). After the resistance began in Los Angeles, the American California Battalion was expanded to a force of about 400 men.
New York Volunteer companies deployed from San Francisco in Alta California to La Paz, Mexico in Baja California. The ship Isabella sailed from Philadelphia on August 16, 1847, with a detachment of one hundred soldiers, and arrived in California on February 18, 1848, the following year, around the same time that the ship Sweden arrived with another detachment of soldiers. These soldiers were added to the existing companies of Stevenson's 1st New York Volunteer Regiment. Stevenson's troops were recruited with the understanding that they would be decommissioned in California.
When gold was discovered in late January 1848, many of Stevenson's troops deserted. The state was formerly under the military governor, Colonel Richard Barnes Mason, who had only about 600 soldiers to govern California, many of these troops deserted to go to the gold fields. Before the gold rush, there was almost no infrastructure in California, except for a few small towns, secularized and abandoned missions, and some 500 large ranches (averaging more than 18,000 acres (73 km)) owned by Californians, who had mostly taken over the Mission's land and livestock. The largest city in California before the gold rush was the Town of Los Angeles, with about 3,500 inhabitants.
Those who took the California Trail generally left Missouri River cities in early April and arrived in California between 150 and 170 days later, late August or early September. Those who lived in the Midwest and already had wagons and equipment took the road to California. Part of the wagon traffic in winter came along the Gila River (Camino De Anza) and routes that included parts of the Old Spanish Trail. About half of the Argonauts arrived in California by wagon on one of these routes.
In the decades after 1850, some of the remaining native populations were gradually placed in a series of reserves and ranches, which were often very small and isolated and lacked adequate natural resources or government funds to support the populations that lived there in the hunter zone. style of meeting they were used to. Many other native California populations have never settled on formal reserves or ranches, and their descendants remain unrecognized at the federal level. California's maritime history includes Native American shelters, tule canoes and sewn canoes (tomols); early European explorers; colonial Spanish and Mexican maritime history of California; Russian and Aleut kayaks in the maritime fur trade.
Naval activity includes Pacific Squadron and Mexican-American War. California Gold Rush Shipment Includes Vapor Vapors, Hair Clippers, Sailboats, Passage Through Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and Cape Horn and Growth of the Port of San Francisco. Also included are sections on California Naval Facilities, California Shipbuilding, California Wrecks, and California Lighthouses. The possibility of separating Southern California as a territory or state was rejected by the national government, and the idea had died in 1861, when patriotic fervor swept through California following the attack on Fort Sumter.
California's participation in the American Civil War included sending gold to the east, recruiting or funding a limited number of combat units, maintaining numerous fortifications, and sending troops to the east, some of which became famous. Following the division of the Democratic Party in 1860, Lincoln's Republican supporters took control of the state in 1861, minimizing the influence of the large population of the south. Its great success was obtaining a land grant for the Pacific Railroad and authorization to build the Central Pacific as the western half of the transcontinental railroad. California was colonized mainly by farmers, miners and businessmen from the Midwest and South.
Although southerners and some Californians tended to favor the Confederacy, the state did not have slavery and were generally powerless during the war itself. They were prevented from organizing and their newspapers were closed when they were denied the use of mail. Confederation sympathizer Gwin was arrested and fled to Europe. Almost all the men who volunteered as Union soldiers stayed in the west, within the Department of the Pacific, to protect forts and other facilities, occupy secessionist regions, and fight Indians in the state and western territories.
Some 2,350 men from the California Column marched east through Arizona in 1862 to drive the Confederates out of Arizona and New Mexico. The California Column spent most of the rest of the war fighting hostile Indians in the area. Routes from Panama and Nicaragua provided a shortcut to go from the east coast to California and a rapid maritime passenger trade developed, with rapid paddle vapors from cities on the east coast, New Orleans, Louisiana and Havana Cuba to the Caribbean mouth of the Chagres River in Panama and the mouth of the San River. Juan in Nicaragua.
After a trip down the Chagres River through the native shelters, the last 20 miles (32 km) were completed to Panama City by mule. The trip down the San Juan River in Nicaragua was usually done by a small steamboat to Lake Nicaragua, a boat trip across the lake, and a final 25 mile (40 km) trip on a stagecoach or mule back to San Juan del Sur or another city on the Pacific side of Nicaragua. After 1855, when the Panama railroad was completed, the Nicaraguan route was largely closed. Although most California railroads began as short-line railroads, the period from 1860 to 1903 saw a series of railroad mergers and acquisitions that led to the creation of four major interstate railroads serving the state (Southern Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Santa Fe Railway and Western Pacific Railroad).
Each of these railroads controlled one (and the South Pacific controlled two) of the transcontinental railroads linking California to the easternmost states. Railroads carried cargo and passengers in large numbers and allowed the state's economy and population to expand rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1890s, construction of electric railroads had begun in California, and by the early 20th century, several systems existed to serve California's largest cities. The state's electric rail systems included the San Diego Electric Railroad, the Pacific Electric system in Los Angeles, the Pacific Railroad in Los Angeles, the East Bay Power Lines and the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose railroads, and intercity rail systems such as the Sacramento Northern Railway also built.
In the 1920s, the Pacific Electric system in Los Angeles was the largest electric railway in the world. The 1970s saw the end of private passenger railroads in California, the creation of a national passenger railroad (Amtrak) and the opening of the BART rail system in the Bay Area. In the 1980s and 1990s, commuter railroads were established in the Bay Area (Caltrain and Altamont Corridor Express), Los Angeles (Metrolink) and San Diego (Coaster) and light rail networks were built or expanded in most urban areas. Joseph, Missouri, Salt Lake City, Utah, Carson City, Nevada and Placerville, California, went into effect.
One of the main problems that occurred during the gold rush was the lack of a payload for ships leaving California. Although California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and seasonal monsoon climate, the large size of the state results in climates that range from humid temperate humid forests in the north to arid deserts in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains. The state's coasts, rivers, and other bodies of water are regulated by the California Coastal Commission. The first American, English and Russian merchant ships began to appear in California before 1816. Know that to the right of the Indies there is an island called California, very close to that part of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women without a single man among them, and they lived in the way of the amazons.
Other crops in California were generally found to be much more profitable, and California joined the rest of the nation in importing most of its wheat from farms in the Midwest. Debt claims against Mexico, boundary claims of the new state of Texas were resolved, and New Mexico, California, and the unestablished territory of several future states of the southwestern United States were added to U. It took about 74 days for Anza to make this initial reconnaissance trip to establish a land route to California. And Mexican troops led the United States Congress to issue a declaration of war against Mexico on May 13, 1846; the war between Mexico and the United States had begun.
When exploring Baja California, the first explorers thought that the Baja California peninsula was an island and applied the name of California to it. . .
