During the Elizabethan period of England, the famous pirate Sir Francis Drake occupied all the land in northern New Spain and New Mexico and became a British colony. Although the British colonies had been “from sea to sea” as early as the 17th century, the British did not have much interest in the land on the west coast of North America.

By the end of the 18th century, Spanish missionaries gradually began to establish settlements on the vast land of northern Spanish California. When Mexico gained independence from Spain, these missionary settlements also became the property of the Mexican government, but were soon abandoned. The territory of the Spanish Empire in northwestern North America was named “California”.

After the Mexican-American War of 1847, the territory was divided between the United States and Mexico. The part of the territory acquired by Mexico later became Baja California, and the United States officially joined the Union in 1850, becoming the state of California today.

In 1848, the Hispanic population of Upper California was approximately 4,000. But when news of the discovery of gold in California spread, countless Americans and Europeans flocked to California in the gold rush, and the California Republic was declared. When U.S. Navy General John D. Sloat entered California from San Francisco Bay, the young republic was declared a territory of the United States.

In 1850, California officially became the 31st state of the Union. During the American Civil War, California was divided over whether to join the Union or the Confederate Army. Although California eventually supported the Northern Army, many Californians still joined the Southern Volunteer Army.

The opening of the first railroad through the United States in the 1870s connected people on the Pacific Coast to the rest of the United States. California locals also gradually discovered that California’s climate was very suitable for the growth of crops, especially oranges. California’s agricultural production is still abundant to this day.

Between 1900 and 1965, California’s population grew from less than 1 million to the most populous state in the United States. The demographics have changed dramatically since 1965, and today California is one of the most diverse regions in the world. California residents are politically liberal. California is the technological and cultural center of the United States, the world’s film and television center, and the agricultural state of the United States.