Page 41 - California Diving and Surfing

History of California

The western portion of Alta California was At least half of the fruit produced in the
soon organized as the State of California, United States is now cultivated in California,
which was admitted as the 31st state on Sep- and the state also leads in the production of
tember 9, 1850. The California Gold Rush starting vegetables. Other important contributors to the
in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic state’s economy include aerospace, education,
change, with large-scale immigration from the manufacturing, and high-tech industry. If it were
east and abroad with an accompanying eco- a country, California would be the 8th or 9th
nomic boom. largest economy in the world and the 34th most
populous.
California’s diverse geography ranges from
the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra The name California is most commonly
Nevada in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas believed to have derived from a fictional
fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert paradise peopled by Black Amazons and ruled by
areas in the southeast. The center of the state is Queen Calafia. The story of Calafia is recorded in
dominated by the Central Valley, a major agricul- a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, writ-
tural area. California contains both the highest ten as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish
and lowest points in the contiguous United adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.
States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to
has the 3rd longest coastline of all states (after Montalvo, was said to be a remote land inhabited
Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common by griffins and other strange beasts, and rich in
occurrence because of the state’s location along gold.
the Pacific Ring of Fire.