2. Queen Calafia’s Island “California” is a fictional name from a book about a mythological island of riches and beauty. The book was written by a mexican author named Garci Ordonez de Montalvo, her books were bestsellers for most of the entire 16th century. Since Montalvos tales were so popular and Spaniards were so easily swayed and believer her stories to be true they named the land we now know as California after the island in her book.
3. Queen Calaifa’s IslandOrigins California is formed as a result of two tectonic plates (North American and Pacific) colliding. This collision created one of Americas finest states, among it is San Francisco which is one of the finest natural harbors in the world, also the mountains in California rise to an astounding height of 10,000 feet. Most everything about California is naturally formed due to the collision of the plates, volcanic action, movement of water and any other natural occurrences during the shift.
4. Queen Calafia’s IslandNative Americans In the late 1400’s much of California was inhabited by Native Americans, it is estimated that approximately 1/3 of all Native Americans lived on its land. Due to the large amount of land and natural resources there was minimal war and disagreement between tribes. Sadly this all changed when the Europeans traveled to America and explored California, they destroyed much of the Indian life by disintegrating their food supply, taking them as slaves, and ultimately destroying their culture.
5. Mexican-California Mexican Californians or Californios were some of the original residents of California, they wanted to be self-governed or simply just be left alone to work on their ranches. The practices among Californios were less than desirable and not accepted by the Mexican government. The Californios were led by Juan Alvarado and proclaimed California a free and independent state.
6. The Gold Rush One thing that California is most known for in the history books was the Gold Rush. Gold was discovered my James Marshall in 1848. The news quickly spread that there was riches in gold to be found out west. Miners flocked quickly to California, and in 1949 a international gold rush was in action, people from all over came in search to hit it rich. The gold rush created California as a state in a short time, not soon after the rush started a petition to make it an official state went out and cities were built quickly wherever gold was found.
7. Influence of the Gold Rush The gold rush can be credited for more than just making people rich and putting California on the list of American states. The rush brought different races together all searching for wealth, they came from far and wide in search of hitting the gold jackpot. The journey to get to California was not one of ease, it was filled with disease, dangerous land and animals and even robbers. Also the fast uprising of cities wherever there was gold created unsanitary cities and unlawful people, since most of the population during the gold rush consisted of men there was always fighting and drunkenness. Most men lost what they made in gold on boozes or gambling. Later on a government would be formed and California would become more of a state than scattered cities.
8. The building of the Golden State The gold rush was the base on which California started but at some point the gold and rush had to run out. It was soon found that that land of California was rich and fertile, perfect for growing crops and farming. Since California was booming, it was decided there needed to be a faster way to travel to get there, this led to the Transcontinental Railroad.
9. Transcontinental Railroad The transcontinental railroad was set in place by the California government, it was to start in Sacramento and go across the sierra Nevada and ended in eastern United states. Charles Crocker was put in charge of building the railroad that would cross the Sierra Nevada, it was considered Americas greatest advancement second only to the Erie canal. Crocker could not find workers that would do the strenuous work that was required to build the railroad for the little pay that was offered. He enlisted 10,000 Chinese men to do the work, these 10,000 men would accomplish a historic constructional accomplishment that would pave the way for travel and trade across America.
10. California Revolution The gold rush couldn’t last forever and this eventually led to downfall in the California economy. The work that was taken by the Chinese for a lower wage also took away jobs from unemployed men who were already in California, this unfortunately led to mobs that would form and beat any Chinese man in its path. This mob was known as the “Workingmen’s Party” and they soon moved from violence to politics and sought to have the constitution in California revised to take away the railroad companies power, evenly distributed land, and public services provided. The “Workingmen’s Party” was in search of a revolution and many opposed that idea and instead wanted reform, this eventually led to compromise and the reform that made California what it is today.
