When did the first humans enter North America across the Bering strait land bridge?
The last ice age, approximately 15,000 to 30,000 years ago
What was the path of migration for the first humans in the Americas?
Migrated southward from Alaska and populated North and South America
What are some defining characteristics of the native Americana of California?
- Spoke a great diversity of dialects
- represented the largest concentration of Indians in North America(150,000-300,000)
- Were primarily hunter/gather societies
- Were not generally warlike, and weapons were not sophisticated (in comparison to those of the plains Indians)
What shared cultural aspects defined the Native American of California?
- Traced lineage on the paternal side
- religions were similar in myths, creation stories, shamanism, and the influence of nature
- Roles were sex differentiated; the mean hunted and fished, the woman gathered food and materials and killed small game
- The oral story traditions was used by all California Indians
Were Indian tribes tightly or loosely connected?
- Geographic factors isolated many tribes
2. Desert and mountains barriers restricted contact
What material belongings did Indian tribes share in common?
- Houses (earth, bark, plank, thatch) and ceremonial houses (sweat, dance, menstrual)
- Musical instruments: drum, rattle, flute, rasp, and bow
- Money: clam disks and olivella shells
What brought the Spanish to Baja peninsula?
- Cortez’ search for the seven cities of cibola
2. Search for an island inhabited by amazon-like women who used golden weapons
What did Cabrillo discover in 1542-43 in California while looking for water passage between the pacific and Atlantic?
- San Diego bay
- Santa Barbara bay
- Point conception
- Point Reyes
What triggered Spanish colonization of California?
- The English explorer Drake sailed up the California coast in 1579 and claimed the area for England
- The threat from England compelled Spain to colonize California
What initially got the attention of the American government in California?
- Russian fur interests in Alaska pushed southward
2. Russians established Fort Ross 80 miles north of San Francisco Bay in 1812 as a trading post
What as the purpose of the California missions?
A: To convert the Indians to Christianity
A: Establish cultural and agricultural centers
A: Populate Alta California for Spain.
What were the positive aspects of the mission system?
A: It spread Christianity.
A: It colonized California.
A: It spread the cultural and technological advances of Spain.
What were the negative aspects of the mission system?
A: The dehumanization of the Indians.
A: The high infant mortality and suicide rates among the Indians.
A: The forced labor and virtual slave-like conditions.
A: Indian self-sufficiency never developed.
When did the missions pass into non-religious hands?
A: In about 1830, the mission system began a secularization process.
A: By 1836, most mission property was privately owned.
What year did Mexico gain its independence from Spain?
1822
What fueled the quest for independence in California?
The land-grant system and the ranchos.
Did Mexico gain control of California?
A: The Mexican government failed in its attempts to dominate California.
A: By 1845, the Californios (provincial Californians) expelled the last of the Mexican governors.
Who opened California for American settlement?
A: American trappers (including Jedediah Smith)
A: Explorers (including Kit Carson and Joseph Walker)
A: A variety of wagon masters.
Migrations of American pioneer families in the 1840s produced what changes California?
A: American pioneers settled in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.
A: They increased the demand that California become part of the United States.
What brought California into the U.S.?
A: President Polk indirectly supported the annexation of California.
A: John C. Fremont, possibly acting on presidential orders, raised the U.S. flag near Monterey, then retreated from the area.
What year was war was declared on Mexico?
A: In 1846 (the Mexican-American War).
What were the pivotal battles in the Mexican-American War?
A: The Bear Flag Revolt prematurely captured California (1846).
A: Commander Sloat captured Monterey Bay and claimed the area for the United States.
A: Mexican forces were defeated and the American flag was raised over Los Angeles in 1847.
How did California pass to the United States?
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) transferred California from Mexican to American control.
How did James W. Marshall in 1848 change the political, social, and economic history of the state?
He discovered gold.
How did “Gold fever” transform California?
A: California settler population increased tremendously from 15,000 in 1847 to 92,000 in 1850, and 380,000 in 1860.
A: Population growth led to statehood. (California was the thirty-first state.)
How did California’s statehood petition get caught up in national politics?
A: California prohibition of slavery upset the balance of free and slave states.
A: The Compromise of 1850 finally allowed for California entry.
When did the Central Pacific met the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad?
1869
Who build the transcontinental railroad?
A: Immigrant labor was used: Chinese on the Central Pacific and Irish on the Union Pacific.
Who controlled the California railroad industry and its political scene?
A: The Big Four: Hopkins, Crocker, Huntington, and Stanford
: How did the depression of the 1870s impact California?
A: It triggered an ongoing cycle of boom and bust.
A: The collapse of the Bank of California in 1875 (and other financial institutions) further weakened the California economy.
What explains the open hostility toward the Chinese?
A: They were blamed for most of the economic problems (backlash from the mining and railroad frontier).
A: The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress in 1882.
A: By 1877, politicians, newspapers, and citizens urged open agitation against the Chinese in California.
A: The Workingmen’s Party was established. It was nativist, anti-Chinese, and anti-big business (1877)
From where did California derive its newest inhabitants
Mainly from the Midwest that led to a dramatic population increase.
What defined the “yellow peril?”
A: Japanese were imported in large numbers to work in agriculture. They displaced Anglo workers and resentment grew.
A: The San Francisco Board of Education segregated Caucasians and Orientals in 1905.
A: The resentment led to an international “Gentlemen’s Agreement” (1907).
What were Populist reforms aiming to accomplish?
To bring government closer to the peopl
How did Hiram Johnson as progressive governor change California?
A: Twenty-three amendments were added to the California Constitution (1911).
A: Women were allowed to vote
A: The initiative, referendum, and recall became law
What abruptly halted the progress of the labor movement?
An anarchist bombing in Los Angeles (1910).
: How did World War I economic impact California?
Wages, production, manufacturing, and commerce expanded rapidly.
What transformed the state in the 1920s?
A: An influx of immigrants
A: By 1930, the California population had grown to six million, an increase of 65 percent during one decade.
What drove the economic expansion of the 1920s?
A: Movie, oil, and agricultural production.
A: A real-estate boom fueled the housing industry.
What characterized California politics during this period?
A power struggle between the north and south and between rural and urban areas
How did the Great Depression impact California?
Large-scale unemployment, bank failures, and foreclosures.
How did state politics change during the Depression?
A: The economic downturn renewed the call for political reform.
A: Upton Sinclair (a reform candidate) ran unsuccessfully for governor on a platform for political change.
A: The Utopian Society promoted economic and social reform.
A: The Townsend Plan favored pensions for the aged and a graduated income tax.
What swelled California’s population during this Depression-era?
Dust Bowl migrants added more than 350,000 to the population.
How did U.S. entry into World War II change California?
California became the “defense center” of the nation.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, what happened to Japanese-Americans in California?
A: Most were relocated from coastal areas to inland detention camps (1942).
A: The Japanese were forced to sell their homes and businesses on short notice at huge losses.
What marked the post-war era?
A: Huge defense contracts following the war fueled economic prosperity.
A: Hundreds of thousands of armed-forces personnel migrated to California.
A: Pollution and water became political issues.
What changed in education?
The California public education system was greatly expanded in the 1960s, including a low-cost college and university system.
How did water define California?
A: Regulating water resources became a fundamental political issue.
A: A series of canals, dams, and reservoirs was established.
A: Northern California water was relocated to burgeoning population centers in the south.
When did California become the most populous state in the nation?
1964
What new problems emerged in California cities?
A: Minorities were generally left out of the economic prosperity.
A: The Watts Riot (1965) focused national attention on the economic and political status of minorities.
How did minorities overcome discrimination in the housing and job markets?
A: Reforms in housing, education, and employment provided new opportunities for minorities.
A: Federal affirmative action programs provided a legal basis for changing discrimination in hiring practices.
Why does Cesar Chavez stand out in California?
He organized the first farm workers’ union in 1962 that ultimately succeeded in attaining a historic contract with the grape growers.
What is the significance of Proposition 13 (1978)?
A: Restructured local control over property taxes.
A: It led to cutbacks in property taxes and a decrease in the tax base available to fund social programs.
What part of the state became synonymous with computers in the 1980s?
Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)
What economic, political, and social problems threatened prosperity in the late 1980s?
A: Immigration (both legal and illegal) from Mexico and Asian countries swelled the population and affected the social service system.
A: Increased crime, gangs, pollution, and other urban problems affected the state.
A: The cost of public higher education escalated dramatically. d. An economic downturn emerged.
What distinguished California nationwide in the early 1990s?
Unemployment (at approximately 10 percent) exceeded the national average.
How did military cutbacks following the break of the USSR impact the California defense industry?
A: The cutbacks had a ripple effect in the housing, auto, and computer industries, among others.
A: Major industrial plant closings further weakened the economy.
A: The cost of public higher education continued to escalate.
What followed the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King trial in 1992?
A: Triggered one of the worst civil disturbances in U.S. history.
A: Destruction in the Los Angeles area ran into the billions of dollars.
A: Guilty verdicts in the federal Rodney King trial (1993) reduced racial tensions.
What are the economic advantages of California?
A: The gross domestic product (GDP) ranks California number one in the nation.
A: The California GDP ranks it among the top 10 countries in the world.
A: Vast natural resources (oil, timber, minerals, and so on) and abundant fertile land allow for future growth.
A: California leads the nation in manufacturing and agricultural production.
A: The higher education system (junior colleges, state colleges, and universities) is among the finest in the nation.
Who established the California missions?
A: Franciscan friars established 21 Spanish missions along California coast from San Diego to Sonoma
A: father Serra is credited with the development of the mission system; his lasting contributions are controversial.
