HISTORY
Interesting Facts
about the History of the USA
Robert L. Zanussi
CA (USA)
California is one of 50 United States of
America. It takes up one half of the west coast
of the continental United States. It is the third
largest of the United States, 17 percent larger
then Amurskaya Oblast. It is 1240 km north to
south and roughly 400 km east to west.
It was 'discovered' in the 1500s by British
and Spanish explorers. No real colonization
was done until the 1700s. The Spanish had
established themselves in Mexico and only
headed north in the 1700s. The first real
colonization was done by Roman Catholic
missionaries. They started establishing
missions up the coast of California. These
missions were built of adobe bricks a distance
of one day's travel by foot apart. They were
attempting to convert the native population
to Christianity.
In the meantime colonization on the
east coast of America was proceeding with
many cities and of course the attempt to
break free from British rule.
It just so happened that the Spanish
mission in San Francisco California was being
dedicated the same week as the Declaration
of Independence was being signed in
Philadelphia Pennsylvania. That is to say, the
establishment of cities on the west coast of
America was lagging way behind what was
happening on the east coast.
Sutter's Lumber Mill - Gold nuggets
were discovered in the water channel at the
bottom in 1848.
The next 70 years after that was a
period of great expansion in California. By the
early 1840s many cities were established.
Russian exploration had also reached the
west coast of America. Some outposts had
been established in the Alaska area and the
Russian market for furs had led some business
men/explorers to the habitat of seals,
beavers, and otters north of San Francisco. A
protective community was established and
for the few years that they stayed it was, and
still is known as Fort Ross. After the Russians
left the area it was dedicated as a State park.
In 1946 the Mexican/Spanish on two
fronts had a war with the United States
basically to attempt annexation of Texas and
California to Mexico. The Americans were
successful and Texas and California were both
admitted to the Union.
At the same time, gold was discovered in
the mountainous river bed of eastern
California and a very large number of people
made their way west to find their fortunes.
This sped up the statehood of California.
California became the 31st state.
In the last 170 years California has grown
to be the most populous state of the United
States and has the 5th or 6th largest
economy of any governmental entity in the
world.
The recreational possibilities in the
state are innumerable. We have hundreds of
kms of beaches, trails through the mountains,
the highest mountain on the continent (4400
meters), national parks, amusement parks,
movie studios, and on and on.
Yosemite National Park
- valley formed by a glacier
February 2019 №2
SUNRISE
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