In 1848, there were about 4,000 Spanish-speaking people in today's California on

the American side. (Today the state has a total of nearly 40,000,000 people.) I
n 1849, gold was suddenly found and the number of people went up very fast as th
e Gold Rush took hold. In 1850, California became a state in the Union (the Unit
ed States).
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), many people in California, especially
in the southern part of California, thought the South was right. Some people in
Southern California even wanted Southern California to leave the rest of the st
ate and join the Confederate States of America. However, this did not happen. Ca
lifornia joined the war to and helped the North (the Union) and sent many troops
east to fight the Confederacy.[5]
At first, travel between the far west and the east coast of the United States wa
s dangerous and took a lot of time. Going by land was very difficult, because th
ere were no roads and no trains, and many Native Americans were attacking Americ
an people heading West in wagons. The only other way was to travel by boat aroun
d the Cape Horn, at the southern end of South America. This took months, since t
he trip was thousands of miles long and the Panama Canal had not yet been built
either. But in 1869, the connection got better quickly, because the first railro
ad across the continent was finished. Meanwhile, more people in California were
learning that the land there was very good to grow fruit and other crops. Orange
s were grown in many parts of California. This was the beginning of the huge far
ming business that California has today.
Present day
In 1900, there were only a million people in California and 105,000 in Los Angel
es. Today, California has more people than any other U.S. state. Starting in 196
5, the variety of people became much greater as many different people from aroun
d the world came to the United States and often decided to live in California. C
alifornia is thought to be a very liberal state, but there are still a lot of pe
ople who are Republicans and view Ronald Reagan as a hero. Technology is very ad
vanced and many new cultural trends begin there. Engineering and computers play
a big part in the state's life. For over a hundred years, film has been one of t
he most important businesses in California. By the 1950s, television had also be
come an important business in California.
References