California
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Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of California from the early 1500s to the mid-1700s, but no settlements were established. During the last quarter of the 18th century, the first European settlements were established in California. Father Junípero Serra, a Franciscan missionary, founded the mission chain, starting with San Diego de Alcalá in 1769. The California Missions comprised a series of outposts established to spread the Christianity among the local Native Americans, with the added benefit of confirming historic Spanish claims to the area. The missions introduced European technology, livestock and crops, as well as diseases previously unknown, which decimated the tribes.

The first quarter of the 19th century continued the slow colonization of the southern central, with a Hispanic population of about 10,000 by 1846 living mostly on cattle ranches. before 1820, Spanish influence was marked by the chain of missions reaching from San Diego to just north of today's San Francisco Bay area, and extended inland approximately 25 to 50 miles from the missions. Outside of this zone, thousands of Native Americans were continuing to lead traditional lives. The Mexican government closed the missions.

The highway and missions have become for many a romantic symbol of an idyllic and peaceful past. The "Mission Revival Style" was an architectural movement that drew its inspiration from this idealized view of California's past. The Spanish encouraged settlement of California with large land grants which were turned into ranchos, where cattle and sheep were raised. The Hispanic population reached about 10,000 in the 1840s, located primarily in ranches along the coast of southern California.
Conquest, 1846

see Conquest of California

The United States captured California from Mexico in 1846 in the Mexican American War. At the time no one knew there was gold in California. There was little blood shed, for the Mexican government had withdrawn most of its forces to suppress rebels elsewhere, and the 10,000 local Hispanics (called "Californios") generally welcomed the new government. For three weeks in 1846 a few hundred Americans in Sonoma declared their independence using the name, "Republic of California", with its "Bear Flag", now part of the official state flag. Then John C. Fremont and the U.S. Army came and took control. The Army was in charge of all of California until it achieved statehood in 1850.

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