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Facts about California

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California is a state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean.

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More than 12 percent of U.S. citizens live in California.

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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.

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California receives most of its natural gas by pipeline from production regions in the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest, and western Canada.

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Due to strict emission laws, only a few small coal-fired power plants operate in California.

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California's economy ranks among the ten largest worldwide.

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California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska.

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The United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States.

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About 35 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.

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After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California.

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California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora: the largest trees, the tallest trees, and the oldest trees.

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The low deserts east of the Southern California mountains experience hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters; the higher-elevation deserts of eastern California see hot summers and cold winters.

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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).

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Sebastiбn Vizcaнno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain.

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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.

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In 1848, the non-native population of California has been estimated to be no more than 15,000.

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The east side of California's mountains has a drier rain shadow.

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During the early twentieth century, migration to California accelerated with the completion of major transcontinental highways.

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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.

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California is one of the largest hydroelectric power producers in the United States, and with adequate rainfall, hydroelectric power typically accounts for close to one-fifth of its electricity generation.

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The Capital of California before 1846 was located in Monterey where in 1849 the first Constitutional Convention and state elections were held.

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Cattle ranches, or ranchos, emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California.

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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.

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California has long attracted the non-conventional and innovative, and has given birth to many aspects of modern American culture.

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California is also home to the second lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere, Death Valley.

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California ranks third in the United States in petroleum refining capacity and accounts for more than one-tenth of total U.S. capacity.

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Deserts in California make up about 25 percent of the total surface area.

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The California State Legislature, with the support of Governor John Bigler, moved to Sacramento in 1854.

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The cool California Current offshore often creates summer fog near the coast.

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California’s crude oil output accounts for more than one-tenth of total U.S. production.

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California leads the United States in electricity generation from nonhydroelectric renewable energy sources, such as wind, geothermal, solar energy, fuel wood, and municipal solid waste/landfill gas resources.

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The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court of California and lower courts.

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California’s two nuclear power plants account for almost one-fifth of total generation.

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California has more than a dozen of the United States' largest oil fields, including the Midway-Sunset Oil Field, the second largest oil field in the contiguous United States.

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The English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579.

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California is famous for earthquakes due to a number of faults, in particular the San Andreas Fault.

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California's economy is very dependent on trade, and international-related commerce accounts for approximately one-quarter of the state’s economy.

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Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the U.S. forces.

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California is also home to such notable private universities as Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and the California Institute of Technology.

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The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians) who had received land grants and traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants.

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Afterward, Shiva and Parvati depart to Mount Kailash, enjoying each other's company.

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California also has the largest Muslim community in the United States, an estimated 3.4 percent of the population, mostly residing in Southern California, which is also home to 40 percent of all Buddhists in America.

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The survey did not ask those surveyed whether they valued free library services more than other specific services, such as firefighting.

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California was the second state to legalize abortion and the second state to legalize marriage for gay couples.

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California is responsible for 13 percent of the United States gross domestic product (GDP).

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Over 200 languages are known to be spoken and read in California.

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Northwestern California has a temperate climate, and the Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coast.

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Travel between California and the central and eastern parts of the United States was time-consuming and dangerous.

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Computers and electronic products are California's top export, accounting for 36 percent of the state's total exports in 2007.

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Due to high electricity demand, California imports more electricity than any other state, primarily hydroelectric power from states in the Pacific Northwest and coal- and natural gas-fired production from the desert Southwest.

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California has hundreds of other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions.

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California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires 40 percent of state revenues be spent on education.

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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.

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After 1850, when California was ratified as a state, the Capitol was also located in Vallejo, and Benicia before moving to Sacramento.

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California's mountain ranges influence the climate as well: some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes.

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Territories, while the lower region of California, Baja California, remained in the possession of Mexico.

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According to estimates from 2006, California has the largest minority population in the United States, making up 57 percent of the state population.

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Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat.

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Scientology has thrived in southern California and has boasted many celebrity adherents.

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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.

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The first mission in Alta California was established at San Diego in 1769.

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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.

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The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) dramatically changed California, sparking a large influx of people and a sustained economic boom.

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Tensions exist between those who value restoring California's rivers to their wild state and those who want to harness the water for electricity, irrigation, and drinking water.

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More than three fourths of California's population resides in the metropolitan areas of the three largest cities.

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Other California cities, including Los Angeles, also have significant gay and lesbian populations that are politically and culturally active.

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California's large number of endemic species includes relict species that have died out elsewhere.

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The name California is most commonly believed to have derived from a storied paradise peopled by black Amazons and ruled by Queen Califia.

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The Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows approximately one-third of the nation's food.

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By 2007, California's population was estimated at 36,553,215, making it the most populated state and the 13th fastest-growing state.

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During World War II, Japanese-Americans living in California were forced into internment camps.

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Northwestern California has a temperate climate, and the Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coast.

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The districts in California are usually dominated by one or the other party with very few districts that could be considered competitive.

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California was facing a $16 billion budget deficit for the 2008-09 budget year.

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California is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexican state of Baja California.

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Ecologically, California is one of the richest and most diverse parts of the world and includes some of the most endangered ecological communities.

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California has 479 incorporated cities and towns, of which 457 are cities and 22 are towns.

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California's judiciary is the largest in the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges).

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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.

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California has eight of the top 50 U.S. cities in terms of population.

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California natural gas production typically is less than 2 percent of total annual U.S. production and satisfies less than one-fifth of state demand.

Taking off from Wheeler Field, on Oahu, Hawaii, on January 11, 1935, and reaching Oakland, California, the next day, Amelia Earhart achieved a milestone. She was the first person to fly solo between Hawaii and the continental United States.Jan 11, 2012

Common animals of the California deserts include the desert bighorn sheep, desert kit fox, coyote, spotted skunk, spotted bat, black-tailed jackrabbit, ground squirrels, kangaroo rat, white-footed mouse, and desert tortoise.

California was the name given to a mythical island populated only by Black Amazon warriors who used gold tools and weapons in the popular early 16th-century romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.

The name California originates from the Spanish conquistadors, after Califia, a mythical island paradise described in Las Serges de Esplandian by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo ​(a Spanish romance written about 1510). All State Name Origins.

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