California [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION In their ruthless search for wealth, the Conquistadores of the 16th and 17th centuries were largely responsible for the discovery and settlement of Spain's colonies in the New World. Although it was discovered in 1542, California was not colonized until 1769, and only then because news had reached the Spanish government that explorers and fur traders from Czarist Russia were about to settle there. Two expeditions were sent from Spain, one by land and the other by sea, to lay claim to this land. Of the three ships that set out only two reached their destination and many of those aboard suffered from scurvy. The overlanders, however, fared much better. Amongst these early adventurers were missionaries - small groups of Jesuit and Franciscan fathers - under the leadership of Junípero Serra, eager to convert the tribes of Red Indians who dwelt in California. The Indians' existence was a meagre one and they hunted rodents and picked roots, fruit, acorns and wild rice. When the missionaries arrived they introduced new crops, taught crafts and offered baptism and education. Many of the Indians reacted strongly against this intrusion into their traditional way of life. Their numbers were greatly diminished as they fell victim to the white man's diseases such as chicken pox and measles-diseases against which they had little or no resistance. The fathers, however, persevered and eventually twenty-one Missions were built in the valleys between San Francisco and San Diego and Christianity started to spread. Other Spanish settlers were granted huge tracts of land for cattle rearing, but their attempts at farming were not really successful and with their failure to discover the rich minerals California soon passed into the control of Mexico, in whose hands it remained for more than sixty years. In 1848 it was ceded to the U.S.A. and two years later became the 31st State of the Union. However, the influence of Spain and Mexico still remains to this day - especially in the place names and the architecture. Prior to 1848, favourable reports of conditions in the West were passed down by Charles Fremond, an explorer, and writers like James Fennimore Cooper and Richard Henry Dana. Dana published a graphic description of the tallow and hide trade under the title 'Two Years before the Mast' - a book that undoubtedly stimulated immigration to California, for the East was starting to fill up and as virgin land was becoming scarce so prospects suddenly seemed much better in the West. Pioneer farmers began to move across the Prairies and the Rockies with five or six months' supplies of food, ammunition, tools, spare parts for their wagons and extra animals. Obstacles were many, food and water were often in short supply, hostile Indians stole their horses and cattle and killed many of the inadequately protected families. In the early days many of the wagons had to be abandoned when the Rockies were reached and the pioneers continued on horseback. By 1845, however, trails to California and nearby Oregon were established, suitable for the heavy covered wagons. It is estimated that between 1845 and 1860,170,000 people travelled overland from the Mississippi to California. A very important event happened in 1848 that encouraged settlers, not just from the east, but from several countries around the world. This was the discovery of large quantities of gold in the Sacramento Valley, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. With this discovery the Gold Rush started in earnest. Towns sprang up almost overnight to accommodate the eager prospectors who arrived with pickaxes, shovels and, indeed, anything they could use to dig for the precious metal and thereby make their fortunes. And yet, ten years later, the days of the individual prospector were virtually finished; large companies had taken over the expensive but profitable task of extracting ore from the deep veins. As for the gold-diggers, some returned to their old lives but others, the gold-fever now in their blood, moved on, seeking their fortunes at new sites such as the Fraser River and the Klondyke in Canada. Mining still flourishes in California but oil now outstrips gold in importance. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 brought many more settlers to the 'Sunshine State' with its favourable climate and fertile soils and even today California is the most populated and fastest-growing state in the U.S.A. It boasts some of the most beautiful and diverse scenery in the whole country - dramatic deserts, national parks with giant sequoia trees, sparlding lakes and waterfalls, sweet-smelling orange and lemon groves and extensive vineyards, as well as surf-washed beaches along 11,000 miles of Pacific coastline. California's towns and cities include sprawling Los Angeles with its famous suburb of Hollywood, glamour capital of the world, whose studios still retain the atmosphere of film-making's affluent past. To the north is the unusual and lovely city of San Francisco, perched on a hill overlooking the spectacular Golden Gate Bridge. Cable-cars and elegant Victorian mansions, fine restaurants and fashionable shops belie the fact that the city's past is so closely linked with the Gold Rush or that in 1906 an earthquake and the resulting fires caused widespread devastation. Another Gold Rush town is Sacramento, the State Capital and an important inland port and agricultural centre. Much farther south, near the Mexican border, is California's oldest town, San Diego, rich in Spanish-Mexican history. In contrast is Palm Springs, a rich man's playground on the edge of the Mojave Desert, renowned for its fine climate as well as some three dozen golf courses. The town is divided up into mile squares, every other one belonging to the Agua Caliente Indians, the original inhabitants of the land.