California, State, western U.S. Area: 163,695 sq mi (423,967 sq km). Population: (2020) 39,538,223; (2024 est.) 39,431,263. Capital: Sacramento. California lies on the Pacific Ocean and is bordered by Mexico and the U.S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. It is the largest state in population and the third largest in area, extending about 800 mi (1,300 km) north to south and 250 mi (400 km) east to west. Within 85 mi (137 km) of each other lie Mount Whitney and Death Valley, the highest (14,494 ft [4,418 m]) and lowest (282 ft [86 m] below sea level) points in the 48 contiguous states. California was inhabited originally by Native Americans. The first European coastal expansion took place in 1542–43 when Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo established a Spanish claim to the area. The first mission was established by Junípero Serra at San Diego in 1769. The region remained under Spanish and, after the 1820s, Mexican control until it was taken by U.S. forces in the Mexican War and ceded to the U.S. by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Though settlement had begun by the U.S. in 1841, it was greatly accelerated by the 1848 gold rush. California was admitted to the union in 1850 as a nonslavery state under the Compromise of 1850. Its already expanding population grew immensely in the 20th century. It has the largest economy of any U.S. state. It has suffered severe earthquakes, most destructively those of San Francisco in 1906 and 1989 and Los Angeles in 1994.
California summary
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see California.
Alcatraz Island Summary
Alcatraz Island, rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S. The island occupies an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is located 1.5 miles (2 km) offshore. The island had little vegetation and was a seabird habitat when it was explored in 1775 by Lieut. Juan Manuel de Ayala, who named it
Mount Wilson Observatory Summary
Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located atop Mount Wilson, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Pasadena, California. It was established in 1904 by American astronomer George Ellery Hale as a solar-observing station for the Yerkes Observatory, but it soon became an independent
Palomar Observatory Summary
Palomar Observatory, astronomical observatory located on Mount Palomar, about 40 miles (65 km) north-northeast of San Diego, Calif. The observatory is the site of the famous Hale Telescope, a reflector with a 200-inch (508-cm) aperture that has proved instrumental in cosmological research. The
Compromise of 1850 Summary
Compromise of 1850, in U.S. history, a series of measures proposed by the “great compromiser,” Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. The crisis arose from the