American Indians were the first people to settle in California They arrived thousands of years ago In the 1500s Spanish explorers landed in California It wasn’t until well into the 1800s that they colonized the area That’s why many places in California have Spanish names The area changed greatly in the late 1840s In 1847 prospectors discovered gold in California By the next year the Gold Rush had begun Approximately 100,000 people flocked to the area hoping to get rich At the time California was part of Mexico But when the Mexican American War 1846 1848 ended Mexico was forced to give the territory to the United States Two years later in 1850 California was admitted as the 31st state The Gold Rush spurred a population boom By 1860 California’s population had tripled to 308,000 Gold remained important but other 6
The Gold Rush helped San Francisco become the biggest city on the west coast of the United States in the 1800s natural resources took off as well The state’s agriculture industry boomed as farmers grew wheat oranges and other crops Even with the Gold Rush California remained somewhat isolated It was the only state on the West Coast until Oregon joined the United States in 1859 However most of the other western territories were still decades away from statehood 7
The railroad helped change all that In 1869 workers completed the Central Pacific line California was finally linked to the rest of the country However this line was most vital to Northern California where the state’s growth began with the Gold Rush Southern California was still a quiet area of mostly small towns Finally the Santa Fe Railway connected Los Angeles with the eastern United States in 1885 By 1900 the population of Los Angeles had swelled to 100,000 Growth continued statewide for most of the 1900s Part of this was due to immigration from THINK ABOUT IT Which is your favorite sports team in California How did you become a fan 8
Railroads connected California with the rest of the country Asia and Latin America starting in the beginning of the century Many immigrants worked in California’s agricultural industry and others worked in manufacturing Around this time a new industry was forming in Southern California Filmmakers saw California’s sunshine unique landscapes and plentiful space as perfect for filming movies In 1900 Hollywood was a small unknown town outside Los Angeles Today it is the film capital of the world 9
