A Golden Start San Francisco California was first visited by Spanish settlers in 1769 It was already inhabited by the Ohlone people a group of Native Americans The Spanish officially settled the area in 1776 and it began growing into the major city it is today One of the original settlements was called El Presidio de San Francisco San Francisco Notes There is evidence that people have lived on the land San Francisco occupies since 3000 BCE 4
After Mexico declared its independence from Spain San Francisco became a part of Mexico But during the Mexican American War the United States took over El Presidio de San Francisco starting in 1846 On September 9 1850 California became the 31st state in the United States San Francisco used to be named Yerba Buena It was renamed in 1847 SAN FRANCISCO IN NOVEMBER 1848 5
The year 1849 marked a huge change for San Francisco The promise of gold brought large groups of people to the area in a short amount of time The population grew from 1,000 to 25,000 people in just one year 6
Some people were so anxious to begin their search for gold that they abandoned their ships at the docks The ships were later turned into hotels used as storage or turned into saloons THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO CALIFORNIA DURING THE GOLD RUSH WERE CALLED FORTY NINERS BECAUSE OF THE YEAR THEY ARRIVED 7
