Northern California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern California coast, the Big Sur coastline area, the Sierra Nevada including Yosemite Valley and Lake Tahoe, Mt. Shasta which is the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range, and the Central Valley.
Native Americans arrived in Northern California perhaps as early as 5,000 to 8,000 BCE, and successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America. The arrival of European explorers from the early 1500s to the mid-1700s, did not establish European settlements in Northern California. In 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County.
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[edit] Description
Definitions of what areas constitute "Northern California" vary considerably. The term usually refers to the area north of the ten counties of Southern California, anything northward of San Luis Obispo County or the Tehachapi Mountains, while others distinguish the Northern and Central Coast areas from the San Luis Obispo County to Santa Cruz County. Moreover many residents of far Northern California define their region as encompassing only those areas to the north of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas.
This definition becomes problematic for inland regions; the Central Valley is a distinct region in itself both culturally and topographically from coastal California, though in Northern versus Southern California divisions, the Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley are usually placed in Northern California. Division of the Sierra Nevada and Eastern California regions into Northern, Central, and Southern California is even more problematic.
[edit] Geography and climate
The region is highly diverse, but can be generally characterized by its beautiful coastline, redwood forests, marine to warm Mediterranean climates and, apart from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area, low population density. It is also a land of wine country, the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada, the southern Cascade Range, the Trinity Alps, and the Klamath Mountains, lakes, and windswept sagebrush steppe, in the northeast portion of the state.
[edit] History
[edit] Historical events to 1847
Inhabited for millennia by Native Americans, from the Shasta tribe in the north, to the Miwoks in the central coast and Sierra Nevada, to the Yokuts of the southern Central Valley, Northern California was among the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America.[1]
[edit] European explorers
The first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish Crown. In 1542, Cabrillo's expedition landed at San Diego Bay, and sailed perhaps as far north as the Rogue River in today's Oregon.[2] Beginning in 1565, the Spanish Manila Galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Spanish Philippines, with silver and gemstones from Mexico. The Manila Galleons returned across the northern Pacific, and reached North America usually off the coast of Northern California, and then continued south with their Asian trade goods to Mexico.
In 1579, Northern California was visited by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of today's San Francisco and claimed the area for England. In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored California's coast as far north as Monterey Bay, where he went ashore. Other Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of Northern California for the next 150 years, but no settlements were established.
[edit] Spanish era
The first European inhabitants were Spanish missionaries, who built missions along the California coast. The mission at Monterey was first established in 1770, and at San Francisco in 1776. In all, some 15 missions stretched along the coast from Sonoma to Santa Barbara (and still more missions to the southern tip of Baja California). In 1786, the French signaled their interest in the Northern California area by sending a voyage of exploration to Monterey.
The first twenty years of the 19th century continued the colonization of the Northern California coast by Spain. By 1820, Spanish influence extended inland approximately 25 to 50 miles (80 km) from the missions. Outside of this zone, perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 Native Americans continued to lead traditional lives. The Adams-Onís Treaty, signed in 1819 between Spain and the young United States, set the northern boundary of the Spanish claims at the 42nd parallel, effectively creating today's northern boundary of Northern California.
[edit] Russian presence
Russians, from Alaska, were moving down the coast, and in 1812 established Fort Ross, a fur trading outpost on the coast of today's Sonoma County. Fort Ross was the southernmost point of expansion, meeting the Spanish northern expansion some 70 miles (113 km) north of San Francisco. In 1841, as the American presence in Northern California began to increase and politics began to change the region, a deal was made with John Sutter and the Russians abandoned their Northern California settlements.
[edit] Mexican era
After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico continued Spain's missions and settlements in Northern California as well as Spain's territorial claims. The Mexican Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians) in these settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels.
In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post just north of today's Portland, Oregon. British fur trappers and hunters then used the Siskiyou Trail to travel throughout Northern California.[3] The leader of a further French scientific expedition to Northern California, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, wrote in 1840 "...it is evident that California will belong to whatever nation chooses to send there a man-of-war and two hundred men."[4] By the 1830s, a significant number of non-Californios had immigrated to Northern California. Chief among these was John Sutter, a European immigrant from Switzerland, who was granted 48,827 acres (19,759 ha) centered on the area of today's Sacramento.[5]
[edit] American interest
American trappers began entering Northern California in the 1830s.[6] In 1834, American visionary Ewing Young led a herd of horses and mules over the Siskiyou Trail from missions in Northern California to British and American settlements in Oregon. Although a small number of American traders and trappers had lived in Northern California since the early 1830s, the first organized overland party of American immigrants to arrive in Northern California was the Bidwell-Bartleson party of 1841 via the new California Trail.[7] Also in 1841, an overland exploratory party of the United States Exploring Expedition came down the Siskiyou Trail from the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, the Donner Party earned notoriety as they struggled to enter Northern California.
[edit] Beginning of United States era
When the Mexican-American War was declared on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months (mid-July 1846) for word to get to California. On June 15, 1846, some 30 non-Mexican settlers, mostly Americans, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. It lasted one week until the U.S. Army, led by John Frémont, took over on June 23.[8] The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag, and continues to contain the words "California Republic."
Commodore John Drake Sloat, on hearing of imminent war and the revolt in Sonoma, ordered his naval forces to occupy Yerba Buena (present San Francisco) on July 7 and raise the American flag. Within days American forces controlled San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.[8] The treaty ending the Mexican-American War was signed on February 2, 1848, and Mexico formally ceded Alta California (including all of present-day Northern California) to the United States.
[edit] Gold Rush (1848-1855)
The California Gold Rush took place almost exclusively in Northern California from 1848–1855. It began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma.[9] News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.
[edit] Population and agricultural expansion (1855-1899)
The decades following the Gold Rush brought dramatic expansion to Northern California, both in population and economically - particularly in agriculture. The completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, with its terminus in Sacramento, meant that Northern California's agricultural produce (and some manufactured goods) could now be shipped economically to the rest of the United States. In return, immigrants from the rest of the United States (and Europe) could comfortably come to Northern California. A network of railroads spread throughout Northern California, and in 1887, a rail link was completed to the Pacific Northwest. Almost all of these railways came under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad, headquartered in San Francisco, and San Francisco continued as a financial and cultural center.
Substantial tensions during this era included nativist sentiments (primarily against Chinese immigrants), tensions between the increasing power of the Southern Pacific Railroad and small farmers, and the beginnings of the labor union movement.
[edit] Cities
Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which includes the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and their many suburbs, and the Silicon Valley high-tech region.
In recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities like the California state capital, Sacramento, from Stockton 45 miles (72 km) south of Sacramento, and Modesto about 30 miles to the south. With expanding development in all these areas, the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey Bay Area, and central part of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills may now be viewed as part of a single megalopolis.[10]
The state's largest inland city, Fresno, is much farther south in the Central Valley, but usually considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into only two parts. Other cities in the region include Redding at the northern end of the Central Valley, Chico, in the mid-north of the Valley, and Eureka on the northern coast.
[edit] Educational Institutions
Northern California hosts a number of the most prestigious and renowned universities and academic institutions in the world. Five of the ten University of California campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Francisco, and the newly created UC Merced, and eleven California State University campuses: Chico State, San Francisco State, Fresno State, Humboldt State, Sonoma State, San Jose State, the California Maritime Academy, CSU East Bay (formerly CSU Hayward), CSU Stanislaus, Sacramento State, and CSU Monterey Bay. Of the private institutions are included Stanford University, the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, St. Mary's College, Mills College and University of the Pacific.
[edit] Regions & Parks
- Alcatraz Island
- Alum Rock Park
- Angel Island
- Bidwell Park
- Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Desolation Wilderness
- East Bay Regional Park District
- East Sierra
- Emerald Triangle
- Farallon Islands
- Gold Country
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area
- Golden Gate Park
- Granite Chief Wilderness
- Grey Lodge Wildlife Reserve
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Marble Mountain Wilderness
- Mount Shasta
- Mount Tamalpais State Park
- Muir Woods National Monument
- Point Reyes National Seashore
- Redwood National and State Parks
- Sacramento River
- Sequoia National Park
- Shasta Cascade
- Trinity Alps
- Turtle Bay Exploration Park
- Tri-Valley
- Wine Country
- Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
- Yosemite National Park
- Yuba-Sutter Area
[edit] Counties
[edit] Major Cities
[edit] Communication
[edit] Telephone area codes
- 209 - Northern San Joaquin Valley (Stockton, Modesto, and Merced).
- 408 - Most of Santa Clara County (San Jose and Gilroy).
- 415 - San Francisco, Daly City, and Marin County. One of the three original area codes in California.
- 510 - Inner East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Fremont). Originally part of area code 415.
- 530 - The northeastern section of the state including Redding,Nevada County Chico, and Lake Tahoe; split from area code 916 in 1997-8.
- 559 - Southern San Joaquin Valley (Fresno and Visalia).
- 650 - San Francisco Peninsula (San Mateo, Redwood City, and Palo Alto). Originally part of area code 415.
- 707 - The North Coast section of the state from Sonoma County to the Oregon border. Cities include Eureka, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Vallejo and Fairfield.
- 831 - Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. Originally part of area code 408.
- 916 - Sacramento County and the Sacramento suburbs in western Placer and El Dorado Counties. One of the three original area codes in California, formerly covered all areas now within 530.
- 925 - Outer East Bay (Concord, Pittsburg, Walnut Creek, Pleasanton and Livermore). Originally part of area codes 415 and 510.
[edit] See also
- Southern California
- History of the west coast of North America
- History of California to 1899
- Redwood Empire
[edit] Notes
- ^ R.F. Heizer (1966). California Indian Tribes map. CaliforniaPrehistory.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo: A Voyage of Discovery. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ Hunters and Trappers at Upper Soda Springs. Museum of the Siskiyou Trail. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1884-1890). History of California, v.4, p.260. The online collective works of Hubert Howe Bancroft.
- ^ Sutter's Fort Historic State Park. California Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1884-1890). History of California, v.4, p.263-64.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1884-1890). History of California, v.4, p.263-273.
- ^ a b American Transition to Early Statehood. California Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ "[E]vents from January 1848 through December 1855 [are] generally acknowledged as the 'Gold Rush' .... After 1855, California gold mining changed and is outside the 'rush' era." The Gold Rush of California: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles. California State University, Stanislaus (2002). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
- ^ The Northern California megaregion
