Page 44 - California Diving and Surfing

he revolt, which had momentarily of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios
T declared California an independent
state, was successful with the assistance of
American and British residents of California,
including Isaac Graham; after 1840, 100 of
those residents who did not have passports
were arrested, leading to the Graham affair
in 1840. In 1846 settlers rebelled against
Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt.
Afterwards, rebels raised the Bear Flag
(featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the tion of California was estimated to be no
words “California Republic”) at Sonoma. The
Republic’s only president was William B. Ide,
who played a pivotal role during the Bear
Flag Revolt.
T he California Republic was short lived;
the same year marked the outbreak of
the Mexican-American War (1846–1848).
When Commodore John D. Sloat of the
United States Navy sailed into Monterey
Bay and began the military occupation of
California by the United States, Northern
California capitulated in less than a month
to the U.S. forces. After a series of defensive
battles in Southern California, the Treaty
to the Pacific Coast.
on January 13, 1847, securing American
control in California. Following the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war,
the region was divided between Mexico
and the U.S.; the western territory of Alta
California, was to become the U.S. state of
California, and Arizona, Nevada, Colorado
and Utah became U.S. Territories, while
the lower region of California, the Baja
Peninsula, remained in the possession of
Mexico. In 1846 the non-native popula-
more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native
Americans down from about 300,000 before
Hispanic settlement in 1769. After gold was
discovered, the population burgeoned with
U.S. citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other
immigrants during the great California Gold
Rush. By 1854 over 300,000 settlers had
come. Between 1847 and 1870, the popula-
tion of San Francisco increased from 500 to
150,000. On September 9, 1850, as part of
the Compromise of 1850, California was ad-
mitted to the United States undivided as a
free state, denying the expansion of slavery
C alifornia’s native population precipi-
tously declined, above all, from Eura-
sian diseases to which they had no natural
immunity. Like in other states, the native
inhabitants were forcefully removed from
their lands by incoming miners, ranchers,
and farmers. And although California en-
tered the union as a free state, the “loiter-
ing or orphaned Indians” were de facto
enslaved by Mexican and Anglo-American
masters under the 1853 Act for the Govern-
ment and Protection of Indians. There were
several massacres in which hundreds of
indigenous people were killed.
I n subsequent decades, the native popu-
lation was placed in reservations and
rancherias, which were often small and
isolated and lacked adequate natural re-
sources or funding from the government to
sustain the populations living on them. As
a result, the rise of California brought great
hardship for the native inhabitants.