California. The state with a population and economy so large that it could be compared
to another country. From Spanish to Mexican to independent to American. Home of the Gold Rush,
Yosemite, and so much more. How did the California of today come to be?...
Historians don’t have an exact date, but it’s assumed that Native American tribes
began inhabiting the land of modern-day California around 10,000 BC. These early
settlers came from Asia, likely across the Bering Straits, and would soon diversify into
more than 100 separate tribes totaling anywhere from roughly 100,000 to 300,000 individuals.
These tribes had their own cultures and ways of life, and inhabited the state on their
own for thousands of years - until European explorers touched down on Californian soil…
The first known European to reach the gorgeous coasts of California was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
in 1542. Cabrillo’s expedition had been launched from modern-day Mexico, known then as the
Viceroyalty of New Spain, and ended up in San Diego Bay. The expedition was rather fruitless,
however, as Cabrillo failed to discover anything that he viewed as worth the trouble for Spain
to colonize. He left, and California remained untouched by European hands. Occasional ships,
such as those from the Spanish East Indies traders would at times touch down on California’s coasts,
but the idea of colonizing the territory still remained unconsidered. Even when English explorer
Francis Drake plundered his way into Oregon and California, claiming the lands for his homeland,
no real settlement of any sort was actually set up. Less than 30 years later, in 1602,
another Spanish sailor, this one by name of Sebastian Vizcaino,
set off for the coast of California in the name of New Spain and hopeful expansion. He,
too, found San Diego Bay as well as Monterey Bay - yet again, no colony.
It wasn’t until decades later that the Spanish finally got around to actually setting up camp
in what they were now calling Alta California. This region was to be a province of New Spain
alongside Baja California below it. Franciscan missionaries would become
the first to set up real, permanent settlements in the region. 1769 would see the first mission
be established alongside California’s first presidio located in today’s San Diego. More
than another dozen missions would spring up in succession across Alta California as more and
more Franciscans aimed to convert the local Indigenous population to Christianity. The
general effort to colonize the region, however, was poorly funded and supported as the Spanish
North American holdings were slowly pushing the bounds of what the Empire could handle.
And the Spanish relationship with the Natives in Alta California was complicated to say
the very least. While the missionaries hoped to teach the Indigenous people their Spanish
culture and beliefs, they also attempted to take advantage of the Natives and utilize them for free
labor while keeping them organized on small portions of the land that had once entirely
belonged to the Indigenous. In response to this sudden encroachment and missionary conquest,
the Natives organized several revolts which made the already unapproachable land even less
appealing to new colonists. Alta California was remote in contrast to other Spanish territories
and the lack of adequate funding left small numbers of friars and soldiers solely in charge
of the settlement and missionary establishment. Nevertheless, the Spaniards were tenacious, and
the following year saw the accidental discovery of San Francisco after the explorers failed to
recognize Sebastian Vizcaino’s description of Monterey Bay and thus sailed on past it.
Further expeditions did uncover more of Northern California as the missions continued to pop up,
but life in Alta California failed to become easier. Shortages of crucial goods including food,
disease, and frequent violence with the Natives led to many close calls of abandoning the new
province. Still, the colonists remained and were continuing to fill the maps with missions,
presidios, and pueblos - many of which we know as cities today like Santa Barbara,
Los Angeles, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. It seemed that Spain had at least secured itself
a functioning new province…until the Mexican War of Independence…
The 1821 war saw Mexico break free from the Spanish and Alta California tag along
with the neighboring lands. It was now a Mexican territory, not Spanish, and the mission culture
began to shift in the direction of a ranching culture. There was also an uptick in trade thanks
to the new policies of the Mexican government, and immigrants from the neighboring American colonies
along with European migrants began filling in the gaps of California’s population left behind by the
declining number of Indigenous. The consequence of the latter fact, however, was the slow collapse of
the missions which relied on their population of converted Natives to stay afloat. What remained of
the missions was soon secularized by the Mexican government in the 1830s and the original Alta
California settlers were having to share land with a growing number of American migrants who
would soon outnumber their predecessors to the region. The following decade thus saw these new
American-Californians stage an uprising against the unstable and preoccupied Mexican government.
The summer of 1846 would mark this so-called Bear Flag Revolt. The revolutionaries raised the
now-famous flag of their newly declared California Republic as they demanded ultimate independence.
While the revolt broke out on June 14 and found speedy success, by mid-July, the “Bear Flaggers”
were informed that the United States - who had declared war on Mexico two months earlier, much to
their surprise, had already captured Monterey and declared it American territory. The rebels now had
two options - take up arms against another nation to maintain their newly founded independence, or,
accept American authority without a fight. Since the early goal of the Bear Flaggers
had actually been to make California an American possession, the decision was quite an easy one.
With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848,
the Mexican-American War came to an end and California was made an
official possession of the United States. Two years later, California would become the 31st
state of the United States of America. But before that, James W. Marshall found gold…
The famous California Gold Rush began at Sutter’s Mill nestled on the American River in Coloma,
California when Marshall discovered gold on January 24, 1848, while at his sawmill. The
immediate reaction to the news brought in migrants from nearby and outside of America’s borders,
particularly Mexico, China, and Chile, but after the endorsement
of the announcement by President James Polk, the era of the “forty-niners” began.
Prospectors from all around the U.S., Australia, Europe, and even Asia were
flooding the state throughout 1849 and caused the population to triple. Businesses
and mines were springing up around Northern California as gold became everyone’s focus.
It’s believed that between 1850 and 1859 alone, somewhere around 28,280,711 ounces
of gold were discovered. With an additional 300,000 people now calling California home,
the Gold Rush came to an end and the state somehow managed to skate by as the American
Civil War played out, spilling brotherly blood all across the southern and eastern states.
California’s agriculture now had a unique chance to develop, as did its rail systems, economy,
and general development. The once sparse and unattractive land that the Spaniards had found
and passed up time after time was becoming a rising star within the United States. All the
while, however, life for Native Californians was worsening. Those who had managed to survive abuse,
disease, and seclusion were now secured onto reservations by the government and their
population numbers were on a constant downhill tumble. Still, life in California went on…
The state’s modern history is no less busy than the rest, and the 20th century saw California
in a constant state of adaptation. After much growth and progress, San Francisco felt the
first tragedy in California’s recent past when a fatally colossal earthquake hit on April 18,
1906. The effects were utterly catastrophic, leaving 28,000 buildings damaged beyond repair,
250,000 people without homes, and a now estimated 3,000 dead. Though San Francisco would recover,
the loss of life and property continues today to serve as a
reminder of what the earth under California’s soil can accomplish…
When the Great Depression hit the United States, however, fear of another earthquake was too
small an angst when compared to the comforts and opportunities California provided to those fleeing
the “Dust Bowl” states of the Midwest. Even after World War Two, many surviving soldiers saw the
state as an ideal home. California’s economy thus benefited even further and prosperity returned
to the short-lived republic. By the middle of the 1960s, California’s population had
already earned itself the title of the nation’s largest - a fact that still rings true today.
Other significant events in the state’s modern history included multiple hefty earthquakes,
social justice movements that spread to the rest of the nation,
a 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island, and so much more.
Today, California sits as one of America’s most important states on multiple levels.
Its geography, economy, culture, and history are vast and varied. What we remember of the state’s
past is often focused primarily on its role in the Wild West as the home of the Gold Rush,
in addition to the more modern designation as the home of cinema and fame. But California’s time as
a home to the Indigenous, a Spanish colony, a Mexican province, an independent republic,
and at long last as a U.S. state are all equally distinguished and necessary periods of the land’s
past. Its California’s bustling history that made it the extraordinary place that it is today…