California ( ) is the
most populous
state in the United States
, and the third largest by area. California is the
second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo,
Brazil
. It is located on the West Coast of the United States, and is bordered by Oregon
to the
north, Nevada
to the
northeast, Arizona
to the
southeast, the Mexican
state of
Baja
California
to the
south, and the Pacific
Ocean
to the west. Its four largest cities are Los Angeles
, San
Diego
, San Jose
, and San Francisco
. The state is home to the nation's second and sixth
largest metropolitan
areas as well as eight of the nation's fifty largest
cities. California has varied
climate and
geography and a
diverse population.
California
is the third-largest U.S. state by land area, after Alaska
and Texas
. Its
geography ranges from the Pacific coast to the
Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, to
Mojave desert areas in the southeast and the
Redwood–
Douglas
fir forests of the northwest.
The center
of the state is dominated by the Central
Valley
, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. California is the most geographically
diverse state in the nation, and contains the highest (Mount
Whitney) and lowest (Death Valley) points in the
contiguous United States.
Beginning
in the late 18th century, the area known as Alta
California
was colonized by the Spanish
Empire. In 1821, Mexico, including
Alta California, became an independent
monarchy, then a republic. In 1846 a group of American settlers in
Sonoma
declared the independence of a California
Republic. As a result of the
Mexican-American War, Mexico
ceded California to the United States. It became the
31st state
admitted to the union on September 9, 1850.
In the 19th century, the
California
Gold Rush brought about dramatic social, economic, and
demographic change in California, with a large influx of people and
an economic boom that caused San Francisco to grow from a hamlet of
tents to a world-renowned
boomtown. Key
developments in the early 20th century included the emergence of
Los Angeles as center of the American
entertainment industry, and the
growth of a large, state-wide
tourism
sector. In addition to California's prosperous agricultural
industry, other important contributors to
the economy include
aerospace,
petroleum, and
information technology.
If California were a country, it would rank
among the ten largest
economies in the world, with a GDP similar
to that of Italy
. It
would be the 35th most
populous country.
Etymology
The word
California originally referred to the entire region
composed of what is today the state of California, plus all or
parts of Nevada, Utah
, Arizona, and
Wyoming
, and the Mexican peninsula of Baja California.
The name
California is most commonly believed to have
derived from a fictional paradise peopled by
Black Amazons and ruled
by a
Queen Califia. The myth of
Califia is recorded in a 1510 work
The Exploits of
Esplandian, written as a sequel to
Amadís de Gaula by Spanish
adventure writer
Garci
Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Califia or Calafia,
according to Montalvo, was said to be a remote land inhabited by
griffins and other strange beasts and rich
in
gold.
-
Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is
an island named California, very close to that part of the
terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women, without a
single man among them, and that they lived in the manner of
Amazons.
They were robust of body, with strong and passionate
hearts and great virtues.
The island itself is one of the wildest in the world on
account of the bold and craggy rocks.
Their weapons were all made of gold.
The island everywhere abounds with gold and precious
stones, and upon it no other metal was found.
The name
California is the fifth-oldest surviving European
place-name in the U.S. and was applied to what is now the southern
tip of Baja
California as the
island of California by a Spanish expedition led by Diego
de Becerra and Fortun Ximenez, who
landed there in 1533 at the behest of Hernando Cortes.
Geography and environment
California adjoins the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the
Mexican state of Baja California. With an area of , it is the third-largest state in the United
States in size, after Alaska and Texas. If
it were a country, California would be the 59th-
largest
in the world in area.
In the
middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west,
the Sierra Nevada to the east,
the Cascade Range in the north and the
Tehachapi Mountains in the
south. The Central Valley is California's agricultural
heartland and grows approximately one-third of the nation's food.
Divided
in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta
, the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as the watershed
of the Sacramento River, while the
southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley
is the watershed for the San Joaquin River; both areas derive their
names from the rivers that transit them. With dredging, the
Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained sufficiently
deep that several inland cities are
seaports. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
serves as a critical water supply hub for the state. Water is
routed through an extensive network of canals and pumps out of the
delta, that traverse nearly the length of the state, including the
Central Valley Project and the State Water Project. Water from the
Delta provides drinking water for nearly 23 million people, almost
two-thirds of the state's population, and provides water to farmers
on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
The Channel
Islands
are located off the southern coast.
The
Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snowy
range") includes the highest peak in the contiguous forty-eight states,
Mount
Whitney
, at 14,505 ft (4,421 m). The range embraces
Yosemite
Valley
, famous for its glacially carved domes, and
Sequoia
National Park
, home to the giant
sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on Earth, and the
deep freshwater lake, Lake
Tahoe
, the largest lake in the state by
volume.
To the
east of the Sierra Nevada are Owens Valley
and Mono
Lake
, an essential migratory
bird habitat. In the western part of the state is
Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake
by area entirely in California. Though Lake Tahoe is larger, it is
divided by the California/Nevada border.
The Sierra Nevada
falls to Arctic temperatures in winter and has several dozen small
glaciers, including Palisade Glacier
, the southernmost glacier in the United
States.
About 45 percent of the state's total surface area is covered by
forests, and California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by
any other state. California contains more forestland than any other
state except Alaska.
Many of the trees in the California
White Mountains
are the oldest in the world; one Bristlecone pine has an age of 4,700
years.
In the
south is a large inland salt lake, the Salton Sea
. Deserts in California make up about 25
percent of the total surface area.
The south-central desert is called the
Mojave; to the northeast of the Mojave
lies Death
Valley
, which contains the lowest, hottest point in
North America, Badwater Flat. The distance from the lowest
point of Death Valley to the peak of Mount Whitney is less than 200
miles (322 km). Indeed, almost all of southeastern California
is arid, hot desert, with routine extreme high temperatures during
the summer.
Along the
California coast are several major metropolitan areas, including
Greater Los Angeles, the
San
Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego
.
California is famous for earthquake due to a
number of faults, in particular the San Andreas Fault
. It is vulnerable to
tsunamis,
floods,
droughts,
Santa Ana
winds,
wildfire,
landslides on steep terrain, and has several
volcanoes.
Climate
California climate varies from
Mediterranean to
subarctic. Much of the state has a
Mediterranean climate, with
cool, rainy winters and dry summers. The cool
California Current offshore often creates
summer
fog near the coast. Further inland, one
encounters colder winters and hotter summers.
Northern parts of the state average higher annual rainfall than the
south. California's mountain ranges influence the climate as well:
some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain
slopes. Northwestern California has a
temperate climate, and the Central Valley
has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes
than the coast. The high mountains, including the
Sierra Nevada, have a
mountain climate with
snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in
summer.
The east side of California's mountains produce a
rain shadow, creating expansive
deserts. The higher elevation deserts of
eastern California see hot summers and
cold winters, while the low deserts east of the southern California
mountains experience hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters.
Death Valley, a desert with large expanses below sea level, is considered the hottest location in
North America; the highest temperature
in the Western
Hemisphere
, , was recorded there on July 10,
1913.
Ecology
California is one of the richest and most diverse parts of the
world, and includes some of the most endangered ecological
communities. California is part of the
Nearctic ecozone and spans a
number of
terrestrial
ecoregions.
California's large number of
endemic species includes
relict species, which have died out
elsewhere, such as the Catalina Ironwood (
Lyonothamnus
floribundus). Many other endemics originated through
differentiation or
adaptive
radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common
ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions such as
the California lilac (
Ceanothus).
Many California endemics have become endangered, as
urbanization,
logging,
overgrazing, and the introduction of
exotic species have encroached on
their habitat.
California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora:
the
largest trees, the
tallest trees, and the
oldest trees. California's native grasses are
perennial plants. After European
contact, these were generally replaced by
invasive species of European annual
grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a
characteristic golden-brown in summer.
Rivers
The two
most prominent rivers within California are the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River, which drain the Central
Valley and flow to the Pacific Ocean through San Francisco Bay
. Two other important rivers are the Klamath River, in the north, and the Colorado
River
, on the southeast border.
Regions
250 px
History
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000
years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically
diverse areas in pre-Columbian
North
America; the area was inhabited by more than
70 distinct
groups of
Native American.
Large, settled populations lived on the coast and hunted sea
mammals, fished for salmon, and gathered shellfish, while groups in
the interior hunted terrestrial game and gathered nuts, acorns, and
berries. California groups also were diverse in their political
organization with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich
coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the
Chumash,
Pomo and
Salinan. Trade, intermarriage, and military
alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the
diverse groups.
The first European to explore the coast as far north as the
Russian River was the
Portuguese
João Rodrigues
Cabrilho, in 1542, sailing for the
Spanish Empire.
Some 37 years later,
the English
explorer Francis Drake
also explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California
coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with
the Manila Galleons on their return
trips from the Philippines
beginning in 1565. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and
mapped the coast of California in 1602 for
New
Spain.
Spanish
missionaries began setting up
twenty-one California Missions
along the coast of what became known as Alta California (Upper California), together with small towns and
presidios. The first mission
in Alta California was established at San
Diego in 1769. In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave
Mexico (including California) independence from Spain; for
the next twenty-five years, Alta California remained a remote northern province of the nation
of Mexico. Cattle ranches, or
ranchos, emerged as the dominant
institutions of Mexican California. After Mexican independence from
Spain, the
chain of
missions became the property of the Mexican government and were
secularized by 1832.
The ranchos developed
under ownership by Californios
(Spanish-speaking Californians) who had received land grants and
traded cowhides and tallow with Boston
merchants.
Beginning in the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United
States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California,
harbingers of the great changes that would later sweep the Mexican
territory. These new arrivals used the
Siskiyou Trail,
California Trail,
Oregon Trail, and
Old Spanish Trail to cross
the rugged mountains and harsh deserts surrounding California.
In this
period, Imperial
Russia
explored the California coast and established a
trading post at Fort
Ross
.
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 words "California Republic") at Sonoma.
The Republic's first and only president was
William B. Ide, who
played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. His term lasted twenty-five days and
concluded when California was occupied by U.S. forces during the
Mexican-American War.
The 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,
including The
Siege of Los
Angeles, the
Battle of
Dominguez Rancho, the
Battle
of San Pasqual, the
Battle
of Rio San Gabriel, and the
Battle
of La Mesa, the
Treaty of
Cahuenga was signed by the
Californios 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 United
States; 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, Baja
California, remained in
the possession of Mexico.
In 1848, the non-native population of California has been estimated
to be no more than 15,000. But after gold was discovered, the
population burgeoned with U.S. citizens, Europeans, and other
immigrants during the great
California Gold Rush.
On September 9, 1850,
as part of the Compromise of
1850, California was admitted to the United States as a free state
(one in which slavery was prohibited).
The seat
of government for California under Mexican rule was located at
Monterey
from 1777 until 1835, when Mexican authorities
abandoned California, leaving their missions and military forts
behind. In 1849, the Constitutional Convention was first
held there. Among the duties was the task of determining the
location for the new State capital.
The first legislative sessions were held
in San
Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo
(1852–1853), and nearby Benicia
(1853–1854), although these locations eventually
proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been
located in Sacramento
since 1854 with only a short break in 1861 when
legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento.
Travel between California and the central and eastern parts of the
United States was time-consuming and dangerous.
A more direct
connection came in 1869 with the completion of the First Transcontinental
Railroad through Donner
Pass
in the Sierra Nevada mountains. After this
rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens
came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the
state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely
well-suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast
expanses of wheat and other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton,
and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern
California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious
agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated
with the completion of major transcontinental
highways like the
Lincoln
Highway and
Route 66.
In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer
than one million to become the most populous state in the Union.
The state is regarded as a world center of technology and
engineering businesses, of the entertainment and music industries,
and as the U.S. center of agricultural production.
Demographics
Population
California Population Density
Map
California's population is estimated by the
US Census Bureau at 36,756,666 for the
year 2008, making it the most populous state. This includes a
natural increase of 2,549,081 since the last census (4,498,700
births minus 1,949,619 deaths). During this time period,
international migration
produced a net increase of 1,825,697 people while domestic
migration produced a net decrease of 1,378,706, resulting in a net
in-migration of 446,991 people. The state of California's own
statistics show a population of 38,292,687 for January 1,
2009.
California is the second-most-populous
sub-national entity of the Western Hemisphere, exceeded only by São Paulo, Brazil
.
California's population is greater than that of all but 34
countries of the world. Also,
Los
Angeles County has held the title of most populous U.S. county
for decades, and it alone is more populous than 42 U.S. states.
The
center of population of
California is at the town of Buttonwillow
in Kern County
.
Cities
California has eight of the
top 50 U.S.
cities in terms of population.
Los Angeles is the nation's second-largest city with a
population of 3,849,378 people, followed by San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), San Francisco, California
(12th), Fresno
(35th),
Sacramento
(36th), Long Beach
(37th), and Oakland
(44th). Additionally, the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San
Francisco, San Diego
, and Sacramento are the 2nd, 6th,
17th, and 23rd largest
in the United States, respectively.
Racial and ancestral makeup
According to the 2005–2007
American Community Survey,
California's population is:
With regard to demographics, California has the largest population
of White Americans in the U.S., an estimated 21,892,718 residents,
although most demographic surveys do not measure actual genetic
ancestry. The state has the fifth-largest population of African
Americans in the U.S., an estimated 2,273,292 residents.
California's Asian American population is estimated at 4.6 million,
approximately one-third of the nation's 15.2 million Asian
Americans. California's Native American population of 375,093 is
the most of any state.
According to estimates from 2005, California has the largest
minority population in the
United States, making up 57 percent of the state population.
Non-Hispanic whites decreased from 80% of the state's population in
1970 to 43% in 2006. While the population of minorities accounts
for 100.7 million of 300 million U.S. residents, 21% of the
national total live in California.
Armed forces
- 2,569,340 veterans of US military service – 504,010 served in
World War II; 301,034 in the Korean conflict; 754,682 during the
Vietnam era; and 278,003 during 1990–2000 (including the Persian
Gulf War).
California's military forces consist of the
Army and Air National Guard, the
naval and state
military reserve (militia), and the
California Cadet Corps.
Languages
As of 2005, 57.59% of California residents age five and older spoke
English as a
first language at home, while 28.21% spoke
Spanish. In addition to English and
Spanish, 2.04% spoke
Filipino,
1.59% spoke
Chinese (which included
Cantonese [0.63%] and
Mandarin [0.43%]), 1.4% spoke
Vietnamese, and 1.05% spoke
Korean as their
mother tongue. In total, 42.4% of the
population spoke languages other than English. Over 200 languages
are known to be spoken and read in California.Including
indigenous
languages, California is viewed as one of the most
linguistically diverse areas in the world (the indigenous languages
were derived from 64 root languages in 6 language families). About
half of the indigenous languages are no longer spoken, and all of
California's living indigenous languages are
endangered and there are some efforts
toward
language
revitalization.
The
official language of
California has been English since the passage of
Proposition 63 in 1986. However, many state, city, and local
government agencies still continue to print official public
documents in numerous languages.
Culture
The culture of California is a Western culture and most clearly has
its modern roots in the
culture of the United States,
but also, historically, many
Hispanic
influences. As a border and coastal state, Californian culture has
been greatly influenced by several large immigrant populations,
especially those from
Latin America
and
East Asia.
California is a true
melting pot as well as an international crossroad to the U.S
.
California has long been a subject of interest in the public mind
and has often been promoted by its boosters as a kind of paradise.
In the early 20th Century, fueled by the efforts of state and local
boosters, many Americans saw the Golden State as an ideal resort
destination, sunny and dry all year round with easy access to the
ocean and mountains. In the 1960s, popular music groups such as the
Beach Boys promoted the image of
Californians as laid-back, tanned beach-goers.
In terms of socio-cultural mores and national politics,
Californians are perceived as more
liberal than other Americans, especially
those who live in the inland states. In some ways, California is
the quintessential
Blue State-- accepting
of alternative lifestyles, not uniformly religious, and preoccupied
with environmental issues.
California is also home to many prestigious
universities including UC Berkeley
, UCLA
and
Stanford
.
The
gold rush of the 1850s is
still seen as a symbol of California's economic style, which tends
to generate technology, social, entertainment, and economic fads
and booms and related busts.
Religion
The largest Christian denominations by number of adherents in 2000
were the
Roman Catholic Church
with 10,079,310;
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 529,575; and the
Southern Baptist
Convention with 471,119.
Jewish
congregations had 994,000 adherents.
The state has the most
Roman
Catholics of any state and a large
Protestant population, a large
American Jewish community, and an
American Muslim population.
With a Jewish population estimated at more than 550,000, Los
Angeles has the second-largest Jewish community in North
America.
There are about 1 million Muslims, which has the largest population
than any other state, mainly of African American descent and
immigrant populations.
According to figures, approximately 100,000
Muslims reside in San
Diego.
As the twentieth century came to a close, forty percent of all
Buddhists in America resided in Southern
California. The
Los
Angeles Metropolitan Area has become unique in the Buddhist
world as the only place where representative organizations of every
major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center.
The
City of Ten Thousand
Buddhas in Northern
California and Hsi Lai
Temple
in Southern
California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the
Western Hemisphere.
California also has a growing
Hindu
population.
California has more members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
Temples than any state except Utah.
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have
played important roles in the settlement of California throughout
the state's history.
For example, a group of a few hundred
Mormon converts from the Northeastern
United
States and Europe arrived at what
would become San
Francisco in the 1840s
aboard the ship Brooklyn, more than doubling the
population of the small town. Before being called
back to Utah by Brigham Young these settlers helped build up
the city of Yerba
Buena
. A group of Mormons also established the city
of San
Bernardino
in
Southern California in 1851. According to the LDS Church
2007 statistics, just over 750,000 Mormons reside in the state of
California, attending almost 1400 congregations statewide.
However, a
Pew Research Center
survey revealed that California is somewhat less religious than the
rest of the US: 62 percent of Californians say they are "absolutely
certain" of the belief in God, while in the nation 71 percent say
so. The survey also revealed 48 percent of Californians say
religion is "very important," while the figure for the United
States is 56 percent.
Economy
As of
2007, the gross state product
(GSP) is about $1.812 trillion, the largest in the United States. California is responsible for 13 percent of
the United States
gross domestic
product (GDP).As of 2006, California's GDP is larger than all
but eight countries in the world (all but eleven countries by
Purchasing Power Parity).
However, California is facing a $26.3 billion
budget deficit for the 2009–2010 budget year. While
the legislative bodies had appeared to address the problem in 2008
with the three-month delayed passage of a budget they in fact only
postponed the deficit to 2009 and due to the
late 2008 decline in the economy and
the
credit
crisis the problem became urgent in November 2008. One problem
is that a substantial portion of the state income comes from income
taxes on a small proportion of wealthy citizens. For example, in
2004, the richest 3% of state taxpayers paid approximately 60% of
all state taxes. The taxable income of this population is highly
dependent upon capital gains, which has been severely impacted by
the stock market declines of this period. The governor has proposed
a combination of extensive program cuts and tax increases to
address this problem, but owing to longstanding problems in the
legislature these proposals are likely to be difficult to pass as
legislation.
State spending increased from $56 billion in 1998 to $131 billion
in 2008, and the state was facing a budget deficit of $40 billion
in 2008.
California is also the home of several
significant economic regions, such as Hollywood
(entertainment), Southern California (aerospace),
the Central
Valley (agriculture), Silicon
Valley
(computers and high tech), and wine producing
regions, such as the Napa Valley,
Sonoma
Valley
and Southern California's Santa
Barbara
, Temecula Valley
and Paso Robles areas.
In terms of jobs, the five largest sectors in California are trade,
transportation, and utilities; government; professional and
business services; education and health services; and leisure and
hospitality. In terms of output, the five largest sectors are
financial services, followed by trade, transportation, and
utilities; education and health services; government; and
manufacturing. California currently has the 4th highest
unemployment rate in the nation at 9.3% in December 2008, up
significantly from 5.9% a year earlier.
California's economy is very dependent on trade and international
related commerce accounts for approximately one-quarter of the
state’s economy. In 2007, California exported $134 billion worth of
goods, up from $127 billion in 2006 and $117 billion in 2005,
surpassing the 2000 peak of $125 billion for two consecutive
years.Computers and electronic products are California's top
export, accounting for 36 percent of all the state's exports in
2007.
Agriculture remains a very important sector in California's
economy. Farming-related sales have more than quadrupled over the
past three decades, from $7.3 billion in 1974 to nearly $31 billion
in 2004. This increase has occurred despite a 15 percent decline in
acreage devoted to farming during the period, and water supply
suffering from chronic instability. Factors contributing to the
growth in sales-per-acre include more intensive use of active
farmlands and technological improvements in crop production.
Per
capita GDP in 2007 was $41,805, ranking 7
th in the
nation. Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and
profession. The Central Valley is the most impoverished, with
migrant farm workers making less than
minimum wage.
Recently, the
San Joaquin
Valley was characterized as one of the most economically
depressed regions in the U.S., on par with the region of Appalachia. Many coastal cities include
some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the U.S.
The high-technology
sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon
Valley, in Santa Clara
and San Mateo counties
, have emerged from the economic downturn caused by
the dot.com bust. In spring
2005, economic growth had resumed in California at 4.3
percent.
California levies a 9.3 percent maximum variable rate
income tax, with six
tax
brackets. It collects about $40 billion per year in income
taxes. California's combined state, county and local sales tax rate
is from 7.25 to 9.75 percent. The rate varies throughout the state
at the local level. In all, it collects about $28 billion in sales
taxes per year. All
real property is
taxable annually, the tax based on the property's fair market value
at the time of purchase. This tax does not increase based on a rise
in real property values (see
Proposition 13). California
collects $33 billion in property taxes per year.
In 2009 the California economic crisis became severe as the state
faces insolvency. In June 2009 Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said "Our wallet
is empty, our bank is closed and our credit is dried up." He called
for massive budget cuts of $24 billion, about 1/4 of the state's
budget.California's time is running outChronicle Editorials
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/03/ED3T180828.DTL
Energy
California, as the most populous U.S. state
and home of Silicon
Valley, is one of the country's largest users of
energy. However, due to its mild weather and strong
environmental movement, its
per
capita energy use is one of the smallest of any U.S.
state.
Transportation
California's vast terrain is connected by an extensive system of
freeways,
expressways, and
highways.
California is known for its
car culture,
giving California's cities a reputation for severe
traffic congestion. Construction and
maintenance of state roads and statewide transportation planning
are primarily the responsibility of the
California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans). The rapidly growing population of
the state is straining all of its transportation networks, and a
recurring issue in California politics is whether the state should
continue to aggressively expand its freeway network or concentrate
on improving mass transit networks in urban areas.
One of
the state's more visible landmarks, the Golden Gate
Bridge
was completed in 1937. With its orange paint
and panoramic views of the bay, this highway bridge is a popular
tourist attraction and also accommodates pedestrians and
bicyclists. It is simultaneously designated as
U.S. Route 101 which is part of the
El Camino Real (Spanish
for Royal Road or King's Highway), and
State Route 1 which is also known
as the
Pacific
Coast Highway.
Another of the seven bridges in the San
Francisco Bay Area is the San Francisco – Oakland Bay
Bridge
, completed in 1936. This bridge
transports approximately 280,000 vehicles per day on two-decks,
with its two sections meeting at Yerba Buena Island
.
Los Angeles
International Airport
and San Francisco International
Airport
are major hubs for trans-Pacific and
transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen important
commercial
airports and many more
general aviation airports throughout the
state.
California also has several important
seaports.
The giant seaport complex formed by the
Port of Los
Angeles
and the Port of Long
Beach in Southern California is the largest in the country and
responsible for handling about a fourth of all container cargo
traffic in the United States. The Port of
Oakland
, fourth largest in the nation, handles trade from
the Pacific Rim and delivers most of the ocean containers passing
through Northern California to the entire USA.
Intercity rail travel is provided by
Amtrak California, which manages the three
busiest intercity rail lines in the US outside the
Northeast Corridor. Integrated
subway and
light
rail networks are found in Los Angeles (
Metro
Rail) and San Francisco (
MUNI Metro). Light rail
systems are also found in San Jose (
VTA), San Diego (
San Diego Trolley), Sacramento (
RT Light Rail), and
Northern San Diego County (
Sprinter). Furthermore,
commuter rail networks serve the San Francisco
Bay Area (
ACE,
BART,
Caltrain), Greater Los Angeles (
Metrolink), and San Diego
County (
Coaster). The
California High Speed Rail
Authority was created in 1996 by the state to implement an
extensive 700 mile (1127 km) rail system. Construction was
approved by the voters during the November 2008 general election, a
$9.95 billion state bond will go toward its construction. Nearly
all counties operate
bus lines, and many cities
operate their own bus lines as well. Intercity bus travel is
provided by
Greyhound and Amtrak
Thruway Coach.
Government and politics
State government
California is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of California and the other
independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the
Assembly and Senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme
Court of California
and lower courts. The state also allows
direct participation of the electorate by
initiative,
referendum,
recall, and
ratification. California allows each political
party to choose whether to have a
closed
primary or a primary where only party members and
independents vote.
The state's capital
is Sacramento.
The
Governor of California
and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms
and may be re-elected only once. The
California State Legislature
consists of a 40-member
Senate and 80-member
Assembly. Senators serve four-year
terms and Assembly members two. Members of the Assembly are subject
to
term limits of three terms, and
members of the Senate are subject to term limits of two
terms.
In the 2007–2008 session, there were 48
Democrats and 32
Republicans in the Assembly.
In the Senate, there are 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. The
governor is Republican
Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
California's legal system is explicitly based on English
common law (as is the case with all other states
except
Louisiana) but carries a few
features from Spanish
civil
law, such as
community
property.
Capital punishment is a
legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country (though
Texas is far more active in carrying out
executions). California's "Death Row" is in San Quentin
State Prison
situated north of San Francisco in Marin
County
. Executions in California are currently
on hold indefinitely as human rights issues are addressed. The
number of inmates in
California
prisons has soared from nearly 25,000 in 1980 to over 170,000
in 2007.
California's
judiciary is the largest in
the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges, while the federal
system has only about 840).
It is supervised by the seven Justices of
the Supreme
Court of California. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of
Appeal are appointed by the Governor, but are subject to retention
by the electorate every 12 years.
Federal politics
Presidential elections results
| Year |
Republican |
Democratic |
| 2008 |
36.91% 5,011,781 |
60.94%
8,274,473 |
| 2004 |
44.36% 5,509,826 |
54.40%
6,745,485 |
| 2000 |
41.65% 4,567,429 |
53.45%
5,861,203 |
| 1996 |
38.21% 3,828,380 |
51.10%
5,119,835 |
| 1992 |
32.61% 3,630,574 |
46.01%
5,121,325 |
| 1988 |
51.13%
5,054,917 |
47.56% 4,702,233 |
| 1984 |
57.51%
5,467,009 |
41.27% 3,922,519 |
| 1980 |
52.69%
4,524,858 |
35.91% 3,083,661 |
| 1976 |
49.35%
3,882,244 |
47.57% 3,742,284 |
| 1972 |
55.01%
4,602,096 |
41.54% 3,475,847 |
| 1968 |
47.82%
3,467,664 |
44.74% 3,244,318 |
| 1964 |
40.79% 2,879,108 |
59.11%
4,171,877 |
| 1960 |
50.10%
3,259,722 |
49.55% 3,224,099 |
California has an idiosyncratic political culture. It was the
second state to legalize abortion and the second state to legalize
marriage for gay couples (by judicial
review, which was later revoked by the ballot initiative,
Proposition 8).
Since 1990, California has generally elected Democratic candidates;
however, the state has elected Republican Governors, though many of
its Republican Governors, such as
Governor Schwarzenegger, tend to be
considered "Moderate Republicans" and more liberal than the
national party.
Democratic strength is
centered in coastal regions of
Los Angeles County and the
San
Francisco Bay Area. The Democrats also hold a majority in
Sacramento.
Republican strength is
greatest in eastern parts of the state.
Orange
County
also remains mostly Republican.
California politics has trended towards the Democratic Party and
away from the Republican Party. The trend is most obvious in
presidential elections. Additionally, the Democrats have easily won
every U.S. Senate race since 1992 and have maintained consistent
majorities in both houses of the state legislature. In the U.S.
House, the Democrats hold a 34–19 edge for the
110th United States Congress.
The U.S senators are
Dianne
Feinstein (D), a native of San Francisco, and
Barbara Boxer (D). The districts in California
are usually dominated by one or the other party with very few
districts that could be considered competitive. Once very
conservative having elected Republicans, California is now a
reliable
Democratic
state. According to political analysts, California should soon gain
three more seats, for a total of 58
electoral votes – the most electoral votes in the
nation.
Cities, towns and counties
- For lists of cities, towns, and counties in California, see
List of counties in
California, List of cities in
California , List of
cities in California, List of
urbanized areas in California , and California locations
by per capita income.
The state's
local government is
divided into
58
counties and 480
incorporated cities and towns; of
which 458 are cities and 22 are towns. Under California law, the
terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable; the name of
an incorporated municipality in the state can either be "City of
(Name)" or "Town of (Name)".
Sacramento became California's first incorporated city on
February 27, 1850. San Jose, San Diego and Benicia tied for California's second incorporated city,
each receiving incorporation on March 27, 1850. Menifee
became the state's most recent and 480th
incorporated municipality on October 1, 2008.
The majority of these cities and towns are within one of five
metropolitan areas.
Sixty-eight percent
of California's population lives in its three largest metropolitan
areas, Greater Los Angeles,
the San
Francisco Bay Area and the Riverside-San Bernardino Area, known as the
Inland
Empire
. Although smaller, the other two large
population centers are the
San Diego and the
Sacramento metro areas.
California is home to the largest county in
the contiguous United States by area San
Bernardino County
.
The state recognizes two kinds of cities:
charter and general law. General law cities owe
their existence to state law and are consequentially governed by
it; charter cities are governed by their own city charters. Cities
incorporated in the 19th century tend to be charter cities. All of
the state's ten most populous cities are charter cities.
Education
Public
secondary education
consists of
high schools
that teach elective courses in trades, languages, and liberal arts
with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students.
California's public educational system is supported by a
unique constitutional
amendment that requires a minimum annual funding level for
grades K-14 (
kindergarten through
community college) which grows with the economy and student
enrollment figures.
California had over 6.2 million school students in the 2005–06
school year. Funding and staffing levels in California schools lag
behind other states.
In expenditure per pupil, California ranked
29th of the 51 states (including the District of Columbia
) in 2005–06. In teaching staff expenditure
per pupil, California ranked 49th of 51. In overall teacher-pupil
ratio, California was also 49th, with 21 students per teacher. Only
Arizona and Utah were poorer.
California's public
postsecondary education offers a
unique three tiered system:
- The preeminent research university system in the state is the
University of California
(UC) which employs more Nobel Prize
laureates than any other institution in the world , and is
considered one of the world's finest public university systems. There are ten
general UC campuses, and a number of specialized campuses in the UC
system.
- The California State
University (CSU) system has almost 450,000 students, making it
the largest university system in the United States. It is intended
to accept the top one-third (1/3) of high school students. The 23
CSU schools are primarily intended for undergraduate
education.
- The California
Community Colleges system provides lower division coursework as
well as basic skills and workforce training. It is the largest
network of higher education in the US, composed of 110 colleges
serving a student population of over 2.6 million.
California is also home to such notable
private universities as Stanford University
, the University of Southern
California
(USC), the California
Institute of Technology
(Caltech), and the Claremont Colleges (including Harvey Mudd
College
and Pomona College
). California has hundreds of other private
colleges and universities, including many religious and
special-purpose institutions.
Sports
California hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley
Ski Resort
, the 1932 and
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los
Angeles, as well as the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
California has nineteen
major professional sports
league franchises, far more than any other state.
The San
Francisco Bay Area has seven major league teams spread in three
cities, San
Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. While the
Greater Los Angeles Area is home to
ten major league franchises, it is also the largest metropolitan
area not to have a team from the
National Football League.
San Diego has two major league teams, and Sacramento also has two.
Home to some of the most prominent universities in the United
States, California has long had many respected collegiate sports
programs.
In particular, the athletic programs of
UC Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Stanford and Fresno
State
are often nationally ranked in the various
collegiate sports. California is also home to the oldest
college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl
, and the Holiday Bowl,
among others.
Below is a list of major sports teams in California:
Landmarks
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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