California Timeline

1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to explore California. At that time over 300,000 Indians lived in the area.
1579 Sir Francis Drake sailed along the coastline of California during his voyage around the world. He claimed the land for England and named it New Albion.
1602 Spain sent Sebastian Vizcaino to the California area, because they feared they would loose the area to England. He brought back a favorable report of the area and urged the Spanish government to colonize it.
1697 The Spanish began building missions and other settlements in Baja, California.
1769 Captain Gaspar de Portola, the governor of Baja led an expedition that established the first military fort in San Diego.
1770 Portola established a fort in Monterey.
1776 Some Spanish settlers settled in San Francisco.
1796 The first American ship appeared in California waters. After that many ships made trading expeditions to the California harbors.
1812 The Russians established Fort Ross in northern California.
1822 California became a province of Mexico.
1823 The United States proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine. It claimed that North and South America should be closed to European Colonization.
1823 By this year the Franciscan friars of the Roman Catholic Church had built a chain of 21 missions throughout California.
1824 Russia agreed to limit its colonization to Alaska.
1825 Beginning in this year, Mexico began sending a series of governors to California.
1826 Jedediah Strong Smith became the first American explorer to go to California.
1830s The government began giving away the mission land.
1831 A group ked by Pio Pico clashed with the Mexican government.
1841 The first group of organized American settlers arrived in California.
1844-1846 John C. Freemont led two surveying parties into California. The parties consisted of soldiers.
March 1846 The Mexican government ordered Freemont to leave. Instead, Freemont rose the United States flag over Hawk's Peak. He began to build a fort there.
13 May 1846 The United States went to war with Mexico.
June 1846 A group of American settlers took over Sonoma. It was Mexico's headquarters for northern California. After the settlers captured the fort they made a homemade flag with a star and a bear on it. They declared themselves the California Republic. This action became known as the Bear Flag Revolt.
1848 The United States won the war with Mexico. California became a part of the United States as a result.
1849 A Gold Rush took place.
1849 California's first constitution was passed by the territorial government.
9 September 1850 California became a state. Peter H. Burnett became the first governor.
1850 The first tax-supported school opened in San Francisco.
1852 The state legislature passed a tax law that would support public schools throughout the state.
1865 After the American Civil War ended thousands of settlers went to California.
1860s Many Chinese immigrants came to California to work on the railroads.
1869 The first transcontinental railroad linked Sacramento with the eastern United States.
1871 Anti-Chinese riots broke out in Los Angeles.
1877 Anti-Chinese riots broke out in San Francisco.
1879 California passed their constitution.
1906 A terrible earthquake shook San Francisco destroying about 28,000 buildings and killing more than 3,000 people.
1910 California established the first tax supported junior college in the United States in Fresno.
1910 After a revolution in Mexico thousands of Mexican immigrants soared into California.
10 July 1913 The highest temperature in the United States occurred.
1917 After the United States entered World War I, shipyards, rubber plants, and other factories were established in California.
1920 Hollywood became the motion-picture capital of the world.
1930s During the Great Depression hundreds of people without homes or jobs drifted into California.
1936 The Hoover Dam was completed. It controlled the floods from the Colorado River in California and provided water for irrigation and power in southern California.
1937 The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in San Francisco.
1941 After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States moved thousands of Japanese Americans from California to detention camps.
1945 Representatives from 50 nations approved the United Nations Charter at the San Francisco Conference.
1964 The first college demonstration occurred at Berkeley.
1965 Racial violence erupted in Los Angeles.
1960s-1970s The state built a series of canal systems, dams, and reservoirs to distribute the water.
1980s Santa Clara County became known as Silicon Valley as they became the world leader in the production of high-technology electronic equipment
1986 California voters made English the official language of California
17 October 1989 An earthquake hit the San Francisco area
1991 A major brush fire struck Oakland.
1992 Four Los Angeles police officers were accused of beating a black motorist Rodney G. King. They were acquitted of criminal charges. The verdict set off several days of rioting in Los Angeles.
1993 Brush fires hit Los Angeles.
January 1994 An earthquake struck the Los Angeles area.
1994 A referendum was passed prohibiting illegal immigrants from receiving public education, free non-emergency medical care, and other social services.
1999 The state abandoned the illegal immigrant referendum.
2001 Rolling blackouts became common across the state as a result of an energy crisis

Works Cited
William A. Bowen and Clark Davis. "California." Worldbookonline.com.

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