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183-554: Amphlett also published a weekly "shopping" newspaper, The San Mateo Post , on Wednesday mornings. The Times provided extensive coverage of San Mateo County news and sports (sometimes using high school or college correspondents). It had one of the first television columnists in the San Francisco Bay Area , Bob Foster, who covered the birth of KPIX , San Francisco's first television station, in December 1948. Foster remained on

366-400: A factor , who guarded weapons and supplies belonging to the king, and disposed of tribute collected in the province; and a veedor (overseer), who was responsible for contacts with native inhabitants of the province, and collected the king's share of any war booty. The veedor , or overseer, position quickly disappeared in most jurisdictions, subsumed into the position of factor . Depending on

549-399: A commercial firm. Upon the success of the expedition, the spoils of war were divvied up in proportion to the amount a participant initially staked, with the leader receiving the largest share. Participants supplied their own armor and weapons, and those who had a horse received two shares, one for himself, the second recognizing the value of the horse as a machine of war. For the conquest era,

732-699: A complex, hierarchical bureaucracy, which in many ways was decentralized. The crown asserted is authority and sovereignty of the territory and vassals it claimed, collected taxes, maintained public order, meted out justice, and established policies for governance of large indigenous populations. Many institutions established in Castile found expression in The Indies from the early colonial period. Spanish universities expanded to train lawyer-bureaucrats ( letrados ) for administrative positions in Spain and its overseas empire. The end of

915-536: A crude fort built on his first voyage in 1492, had been abandoned by the time he returned in 1493. He then founded the settlement of La Isabela on the island they named Hispaniola (now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic ). Spanish explorations of other islands in the Caribbean and what turned out to be the mainland of South and Central America occupied them for over two decades. Columbus had promised

1098-603: A first in the United States, and four years later a majority of voters in the Bay Area rejected California Proposition 8 , which sought to constitutionally restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples but ultimately passed statewide. The Bay Area was also the center of contentious protests concerning racial and economic inequality . In 2009, an African-American man named Oscar Grant was fatally shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers , precipitating widespread protests across

1281-409: A hotbed of progressive politics . Economically, the post-war Bay Area saw large growth in the financial and technology industries, creating an economy with a gross domestic product of over $ 700 billion. In 2018 it was home to the third-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States. The Bay Area is home to approximately 7.52 million people. The larger federal classification,

1464-468: A labor force. Spaniards continued to expand their presence in the circum-Caribbean region with expeditions. One was by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1517, another by Juan de Grijalva in 1518, which brought promising news of possibilities there. Even by the mid-1510s, the western Caribbean was largely unexplored by Spaniards. A well-connected settler in Cuba, Hernán Cortés received authorization in 1519 by

1647-674: A long campaign that took decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in the Americas. In the following years, Spain extended its rule over the Empire of the Inca civilization . The Spanish took advantage of a recent civil war between the factions of the two brothers Emperor Atahualpa and Huáscar , and the enmity of indigenous nations the Incas had subjugated, such as the Huanca , Chachapoyas , and Cañaris . In

1830-533: A major metropolis, it held no interest for Spaniards and the 1535–36 settlement failed and was abandoned by 1541. Pedro de Mendoza and Domingo Martínez de Irala , who led the original expedition, went inland and founded Asunción, Paraguay , which became the Spaniards' base. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay , who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción , now

2013-527: A national chain of newspapers and broadcast stations with corporate offices at 101 W. Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado . The daily newspaper, known since 1979 as The Times , was renamed the San Mateo County Times. In 2011, Bay Area News Group announced that the San Mateo Times would publish its last issue on November 1, 2011. From Nov. 2, 2011, subscribers would receive localized versions of

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2196-452: A phase of inland expeditions and conquest. In 1500 the city of Nueva Cádiz was founded on the island of Cubagua , Venezuela, followed by the founding of Santa Cruz by Alonso de Ojeda in the present-day Guajira Peninsula . Cumaná in Venezuela was the first permanent settlement founded by Europeans in the mainland Americas, in 1501 by Franciscan friars , but due to successful attacks by

2379-462: A port city so that inland settlements could be connected by sea to Spain. In Mexico, Hernán Cortés and the men of his expedition founded of the port town of Veracruz in 1519 and constituted themselves as the town councilors, as a means to throw off the authority of the governor of Cuba, who did not authorize an expedition of conquest. Once the Aztec Empire was toppled, they founded Mexico City on

2562-545: A significant earthquake hazard. Among the more well-understood faults, as of 2014, scientists estimate a 72% probability of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurring along either the Hayward, Rogers Creek, or San Andreas fault, with an earthquake more likely to occur in the East Bay's Hayward Fault. Two of the largest earthquakes in recent history were the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . The Bay Area

2745-416: A significant presence throughout the region. Most of the remaining two-fifths of the population is non-Hispanic White American . The most populous cities of the Bay Area are San Francisco, Oakland , and San Jose , the latter of which had a population of 969,655 in 2023, making San Jose the area's largest city and the 13th-most populous in the United States . Despite its urban character, San Francisco Bay

2928-607: A single county, Alameda. Diverse assemblages adjoin in complex arrangements due to offsets along the many faults (both active and stable) in the area. As a consequence, many types of rock and soil are found in the region. The oldest rocks are metamorphic rocks that are associated with granite in the Salinian Block west of the San Andreas Fault . These were formed from sedimentary rocks of sandstone , limestone , and shale in uplifted seabeds. Volcanic deposits also exist in

3111-479: A source in Huancavelica (founded 1572), while Mexico had to rely on mercury imported from Spain. The Spanish founded towns in the Caribbean, on Hispaniola and Cuba, on a pattern that became spatially similar throughout Spanish America. A central plaza had the most important buildings on the four sides, especially buildings for royal officials and the main church. A checkerboard pattern radiated outward. Residences of

3294-407: A source of their own wealth, disappearing before their eyes. In the first settlements in the Caribbean, the Spaniards deliberately brought animals and plants that transformed the ecological landscape. Pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens allowed Spaniards to eat a diet with which they were familiar. But the importation of horses transformed warfare for both the Spaniards and the indigenous. Where

3477-466: A total of about 700. More recent studies estimate the total death count to be over 3,000, with over 28,000 buildings destroyed. Rebuilding efforts began immediately. Amadeo Peter Giannini , owner of the Bank of Italy (now known as the Bank of America ), had managed to retrieve the money from his bank's vaults before fires broke out through the city and was the only bank with liquid funds readily available and

3660-399: Is Lope de Aguirre , who led a mutiny against Ursúa, who was murdered. Aguirre subsequently wrote a letter to Philip II bitterly complaining about the treatment of conquerors like himself in the wake of the assertion of crown control over Peru. An earlier expedition that left in 1527 was led by Pánfilo Naváez , who was killed early on. Survivors continued to travel among indigenous groups in

3843-480: Is a quarter moon, when it rains one or two days, all the other days have such a beautiful sunshine... Chile was explored by Spaniards based in Peru, where Spaniards found the fertile soil and mild climate attractive. The Mapuche people of Chile, whom the Spaniards called Araucanians , resisted fiercely. The Spanish did establish the settlement of Chile in 1541, founded by Pedro de Valdivia . Southward colonization by

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4026-751: Is accepted by most local governmental agencies including San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board , Bay Area Air Quality Management District , the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority , the Metropolitan Transportation Commission , and the Association of Bay Area Governments , the latter two of which partner to deliver a Bay Area Census using the nine-county definition. Various U.S. Federal government agencies use definitions that differ from their local counterparts' nine-county definition. For example,

4209-528: Is commonly given credit for being the first European to sight Florida in 1513. For political reasons, Spain would sometimes claim that La Florida was all of the North American continent. However, the name was typically used to refer to the peninsula itself as well as the Gulf Coast , Georgia, Carolina, and southern Virginia . In 1521, Ponce de Leon was killed while trying to establish a settlement near what

4392-820: Is home to a complex network of watersheds, marshes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and bays that predominantly drain into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. The largest bodies of water in the Bay Area are the San Francisco , San Pablo , and Suisun estuaries. Major rivers of the North Bay include the Napa River , the Petaluma River , the Gualala River , and the Russian River ; the former two drain into San Pablo Bay ,

4575-463: Is largely influenced by the cold California Current , which penetrates the natural mountainous barrier along the coast by traveling through various gaps. In terms of precipitation , this means that the Bay Area has pronounced seasons. The winter season, which roughly runs between November and March, is the source of about 82% of annual precipitation in the area. In the South Bay and further inland, while

4758-568: Is most clearly seen in the conquest of the Aztec Empire with the alliance of the Nahua city-state of Tlaxcala against the Aztec Empire resulting in lasting benefits to themselves and their descendants. Patterns of the first Spanish settlements in the Caribbean were to endure there and had a lasting impact on the Spanish Empire. Until his dying day, Columbus was convinced that he had reached Asia,

4941-421: Is now Charlotte Harbor, Florida . Another failed attempt was conducted by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón , who set out with approximately 500 colonists and established the settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape in modern-day South Carolina in 1526. In 1559, Tristán de Luna y Arellano established the first multi-year European settlement in the United States in what is now Pensacola , Florida. This settlement predates

5124-405: Is one of California's most ecologically sensitive habitats, providing important ecosystem services such as filtering the pollutants and sediments from rivers and supporting a number of endangered species . In addition, the Bay Area is known for its stands of coast redwoods , many of which are protected in state and county parks. The region is additionally known for the complexity of its landforms,

5307-612: Is sometimes referred to as "the Last Conquistador ", expanded Spanish sovereignty over what is now New Mexico. Like previous conquistadors, Oñate engaged in widespread abuses of the Indian population. Shortly after founding Santa Fe , Oñate was recalled to Mexico City by the Spanish authorities. He was subsequently tried and convicted of cruelty to both natives and colonists and banished from New Mexico for life. Two major factors affected

5490-543: The Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville. Ships and cargoes were registered, and emigrants vetted to prevent migration of anyone not of Old Christian heritage, (i.e., with no Jewish or Muslim ancestry), and facilitated the migration of families and women. In addition, the Casa de Contratación took charge of the fiscal organization, and of the organization and judicial control of

5673-551: The San Jose Mercury News . The plan was later canceled. In 2016, the San Mateo Times was merged into the San Jose Mercury News . San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area , commonly known as the Bay Area , is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay , and anchored by the cities of San Francisco , Oakland , and San Jose . The Association of Bay Area Governments defines

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5856-402: The adelantado was a senior with material wealth and standing who could persuade the crown to issue him a license for an expedition. He also had to attract participants to the expedition who staked their own lives and meager fortunes on the expectation of the expedition's success. The leader of the expedition pledged the larger share of capital to the enterprise, which in many ways functioned as

6039-547: The Allied Powers was signed in San Francisco, entering into force a year later. In the years immediately following the war, the Bay Area saw a huge wave of immigration as populations increased across the region. Between 1950 and 1960, San Francisco welcomed over 100,000 new residents, inland suburbs in the East Bay saw their populations double, Daly City 's population quadrupled, and Santa Clara 's population quintupled. By

6222-542: The Audiencia of Bogotá , and comprised an area corresponding mainly to modern-day Colombia and parts of Venezuela . The conquistadors originally organized it as a captaincy general within the Viceroyalty of Peru . The crown established the audiencia in 1549. Ultimately, the kingdom became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada first in 1717 and permanently in 1739. After several attempts to set up independent states in

6405-510: The Bay Bridge , which would connect San Francisco with Oakland and the East Bay. After the United States joined World War II in 1941, the Bay Area became a major domestic military and naval hub, with large shipyards constructed in Sausalito and across the East Bay to build ships for the war effort. The Army's San Francisco Port of Embarkation was the primary origin for Army forces shipping out to

6588-511: The Carolinas , Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, and California. Puerto Rico was also colonized by the Spanish during this era, occasioning the earliest contact between Africans and what would become the United States (via the free Black conquistador Juan Garrido ). Free and enslaved Africans were a feature of New Spain throughout the colonial period. One of the colonists who conquered Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de León ,

6771-550: The Catholic Church peacefully or by force. The crown created civil and religious structures to administer the vast territory. Spanish men and women settled in greatest numbers where there were dense indigenous populations and the existence of valuable resources for extraction . The Spanish Empire claimed jurisdiction over the New World in the Caribbean and North and South America, with the exception of Brazil, ceded to Portugal by

6954-468: The Central Valley counties of San Joaquin , Merced , and Stanislaus . The Bay Area is known for its natural beauty, prominent universities, technology companies, and affluence. The Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by a complex multimodal transportation network. The earliest archaeological evidence of human settlements in

7137-602: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which regulates broadcast, cable, and satellite transmissions, includes nearby Colusa , Lake and Mendocino counties in their " San Francisco - Oakland - San Jose " media market , but excludes eastern Solano County. On the other hand, the United States Office of Management and Budget , which designates metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and combined statistical areas (CSA) for populated regions across

7320-680: The Hayward Fault Zone , Concord-Green Valley Fault , Calaveras Fault , Clayton-Marsh Creek-Greenville Fault , Rodgers Creek Fault , and the San Gregorio Fault . Significant blind thrust faults (faults with near vertical motion and no surface ruptures) are associated with portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern reaches of the Diablo Range and Mount Diablo . These "hidden" faults, which are not as well known, pose

7503-636: The Hayward fault , and the Diablo Range , which includes Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton and runs along the Calaveras fault . In total, the Bay Area is traversed by seven major fault systems with hundreds of related faults, all of which are stressed by the relative motion between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate or by compressive stresses between these plates. The fault systems include

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7686-658: The North Pacific High through the Golden Gate, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog . The microclimate phenomenon is most pronounced during this time, when fog penetration is at its maximum in areas near the Golden Gate strait, while the South Bay and areas further inland are sunny and dry. Along the San Francisco peninsula, gaps in the Santa Cruz Mountains , one south of San Bruno Mountain and another in Crystal Springs, allow oceanic weather into

7869-539: The Pacific Ocean on the west and the bay on the east and are characterized by their mountainous and woody terrain. Sonoma and Napa counties are known internationally for their grape vineyards and wineries , and Solano County to the east, centered around Vallejo , is the fastest growing region in the Bay Area. The " Peninsula " subregion includes the cities and towns on the San Francisco Peninsula, excluding

8052-738: The Pacific Theater of Operations . That command consisted of fourteen installations including Fort Mason, the Oakland Army Base , Camp Stoneman and Fort McDowell in San Francisco Bay and the sub port of Los Angeles. After World War II, the United Nations was chartered in San Francisco, and in September 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco to re-establish peaceful relations between Japan and

8235-583: The San Joaquin River Delta , causing a cooling effect in Stockton and Sacramento , so that these cities are also cooler than their Central Valley counterparts in the south. The Bay Area is home to a diverse array of wildlife and, along with the connected San Joaquin River Delta represents one of California's most important ecological habitats. California's Dungeness crab , Pacific halibut , and

8418-487: The Spanish Empire were under the jurisdiction of Crown of Castile until the last territory was lost in 1898 . Spaniards saw the dense populations of indigenous peoples as an important economic resource and the territory claimed as potentially producing great wealth for individual Spaniards and the crown. Religion played an important role in the Spanish conquest and incorporation of indigenous peoples, bringing them into

8601-537: The Summer of Love . In the proceeding decades, the Bay Area would cement itself as a hotbed of New Left activism, student activism , opposition to the Vietnam War and other anti-war movements , the black power movement , and the gay rights movement . At the same time, parts of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties began to rapidly develop from an agrarian economy into a hotbed of the high-tech industry . Fred Terman ,

8784-850: The Tamien of the South Bay. The Miwok had two major groups in the Bay Area: the Bay Miwok of Contra Costa and the Coast Miwok of Marin and Sonoma . In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast near the Bay Area though the expedition did not see the Golden Gate or the estuaries, likely due to fog. Sir Francis Drake became the first European to land in the area and claim it in June 1579, when he landed at Drakes Bay near Point Reyes. Even though he claimed

8967-457: The Treaty of Tordesillas . Other European powers, including England, France, and the Dutch Republic, took possession of territories initially claimed by Spain. Although the overseas territories under the jurisdiction of the Spanish crown are now commonly called "colonies" the term was not used until the second half of 18th century. The process of Spanish settlement, now called "colonization" and

9150-662: The University of California, Berkeley Richard Walker claimed that "no other U.S. city-region is as definitionally challenged [as the Bay Area]." When the region began to rapidly develop during and immediately after World War II , local planners settled on a nine-county definition for the Bay Area, consisting of the counties that directly border the San Francisco , San Pablo , and Suisun estuaries : Alameda , Contra Costa , Marin , Napa , San Francisco , San Mateo , Santa Clara , Solano , and Sonoma counties. Today, this definition

9333-535: The combined statistical area of the region which includes 13 counties, is the second-largest in California—after the Greater Los Angeles area—and the fifth-largest in the United States, with over 9 million people. The Bay Area's population is ethnically diverse: roughly three-fifths of the region's residents are Hispanic/Latino , Asian , African/Black , Indian , or Pacific Islander , all of whom have

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9516-406: The conquest of the Incan Empire , which used similar tactics and began in 1532, was the conquest of the Aztecs matched in scale of either territory or treasure. In 1532 at the Battle of Cajamarca a group of Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro and their indigenous Andean Indian auxiliaries native allies ambushed and captured the Emperor Atahualpa of the Inca Empire . It was the first step in

9699-401: The osprey . In 1927, zoologist Joseph Grinnell wrote that osprey were only rare visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area, although he noted records of one or two used nests in the broken tops of redwood trees along the Russian River . In 1989, the southern breeding range of the osprey in the Bay Area was Kent Lake , although osprey were noted to be extending their range further south in

9882-446: The west coast of the United States , including populations residing in tributaries to San Francisco Bay. California Coast Chinook salmon were historically native to the Guadalupe River in San Francisco Bay, and Chinook salmon runs persist today in the Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek , Napa River , and Walnut Creek . Industrial, mining, and other uses of mercury have resulted in a widespread distribution of that poisonous metal in

10065-406: The "colonial era" are terms contested by scholars of Latin America and more generally. It is estimated that during the period 1492–1832, a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas, and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-independence era (1850–1950); the estimate is 250,000 in the 16th century and most during the 18th century, as immigration was encouraged by

10248-469: The 1540s and regional capitals founded by the 1550s. Among the most notable expeditions are Hernando de Soto into southeast North America, leaving from Cuba (1539–1542); Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to northern Mexico (1540–1542), and Gonzalo Pizarro to Amazonia, leaving from Quito, Ecuador (1541–1542). In 1561, Pedro de Ursúa led an expedition of some 370 Spanish (including women and children) into Amazonia to search for El Dorado. Far more famous now

10431-439: The 1810s, the kingdom and the viceroyalty ceased to exist altogether in 1819 with the establishment of Gran Colombia . Venezuela was first visited by Europeans during the 1490s, when Columbus was in control of the region, and the region as a source for indigenous slaves for Spaniards in Cuba and Hispaniola, since the Spanish destruction of the local indigenous population. There were few permanent settlements, but Spaniards settled

10614-421: The 1980s an effort to re-introduce the species to the area began with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and the San Francisco Zoo importing birds and eggs from Vancouver Island and northeastern California, and there are now nineteen nesting couples in eight of the Bay Area's nine counties. Other once absent species that have returned to the Bay Area include Swainson's hawk , white tailed kite , and

10797-413: The Andes to the east, Pacific Ocean to the west, and indigenous to the south. Between 1537 and 1543, six Spanish expeditions entered highland Colombia, conquered the Muisca Confederation , and set up the New Kingdom of Granada (Spanish: Nuevo Reino de Granada ). Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was the leading conquistador with his brother Hernán second in command. It was governed by the president of

10980-528: The Argentine pampas. The introduction of sheep production was an ecological disaster in places where they were raised in great numbers, since they ate vegetation to the ground, preventing the regeneration of plants. The Spanish brought new crops for cultivation. (See Mission Garden for specific foods.) They preferred wheat cultivation to indigenous sources of carbohydrates: casava, maize (corn), and potatoes, initially importing seeds from Europe and planting in areas where plow agriculture could be utilized, such as

11163-407: The Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Peru , more stringent laws to control conquerors' and settlers' exercise of power, especially their maltreatment of the indigenous populations, were promulgated, known as the New Laws (1542). The crown aimed to prevent the formation of an aristocracy in the Indies not under crown control. Queen Isabel was the first monarch that laid the first stone for

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11346-680: The Aztec and Inca indigenous civilizations, and rich deposits of the valuable metal silver. Spanish settlement in Mexico "largely replicated the organization of the area in preconquest times". However, in Peru the center of the Incas was too far south, too remote, and at too high an altitude for the Spanish capital, so the capital Lima was built near the Pacific coast. The capitals of both Mexico and Peru (Mexico City and Lima) came to have large concentrations of Spanish settlers and hubs of royal and ecclesiastical administration, large commercial enterprises with skilled artisans, and centers of culture. Although Spaniards had hoped to find vast quantities of gold,

11529-415: The Aztec emperor Moctezuma II , by Cortés was not a brilliant stroke of innovation, but came from the playbook that the Spanish developed during their period in the Caribbean. The composition of the expedition was the standard pattern, with a senior leader, and participating men investing in the enterprise with the full expectation of rewards if they did not lose their lives. Cortés's seeking indigenous allies

11712-477: The Bay Area as including the nine counties that border the estuaries of San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay , and Suisun Bay : Alameda , Contra Costa , Marin , Napa , San Mateo , Santa Clara , Solano , Sonoma , and San Francisco . Other definitions may be either smaller or larger, and may include neighboring counties which are not officially part of the San Francisco Bay Area, such as the Central Coast counties of Santa Cruz , San Benito , and Monterey , or

11895-409: The Bay Area dates back to 8000–10,000 BC. The oral tradition of the Ohlone and Miwok people suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for several hundreds if not thousands of years. The Spanish empire claimed the area beginning in the early period of Spanish colonization of the Americas . The earliest Spanish exploration of the Bay Area took place in 1769. The Mexican government controlled

12078-410: The Bay Area during this period. In 1806, a Spanish expedition led by Gabriel Moraga began at the Presidio, traveled south of the bay, and then east to explore the San Joaquin Valley . In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and the Bay Area became part of the Mexican province of Alta California , a period characterized by ranch life and visiting American trappers. Mexico's control of

12261-449: The Bay Area played a major role in America's war effort in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater , with the San Francisco Port of Embarkation , of which Fort Mason was one of 14 installations and location of the headquarters, acting as a primary embarkation point for American forces. Since then, the Bay Area has experienced numerous political, cultural, and artistic movements, developing unique local genres in music and art and establishing itself as

12444-509: The Bay Area their home, making the region a popular destination for birdwatching . Many birds are listed as endangered species despite once being common in the region. Western burrowing owls were originally listed as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1979. California's population declined 60% from the 1980s to the early 1990s, and continues to decline at roughly 8% per year. A 1992–93 survey reported little to no breeding burrowing owls in most of

12627-434: The Bay Area, all naturally spawned anadromous steelhead populations below natural and manmade impassable barriers in California streams from the Russian River to Aptos Creek , and the drainages of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act . The Central California Coast coho salmon population is the most endangered of the many troubled salmon populations on

12810-421: The Bay Area, in the Lost Coast . The expedition followed the coast southward and on November 7 the San Agustin anchored in Drakes Bay, and claimed the region as Puerto y Bahía de San Francisco . In late November, a storm sank the San Agustin and killed between 7 and 12 people. On December 8, 80 remaining crew members set sail on the San Buenaventura , a launch which was partially constructed en route from

12993-420: The Bay Area, left behind by the movement of the San Andreas Fault, whose movement sliced a subduction plate and allowed magma to briefly flow to the surface. The region has considerable vertical relief in its landscapes that are not in the alluvial plains leading to the bay or in the inland valleys. The topography, and geologic history, of the Bay Area can largely be attributed to the compressive forces between

13176-504: The Bay. The wild turkey population was introduced in the 1960s by state game officials, and by 2015 have become a common sight in East Bay communities. The Bay Area is well known for the complexity of its landforms that are the result of the forces of plate tectonics acting over of millions of years, since the region is located in the middle of a meeting point between two plates. Nine out of eleven distinct assemblages have been identified in

13359-533: The California scorpionfish are all significant components of the bay's fisheries . The bay's salt marshes now represent most of California's remaining salt marsh and support a number of endangered species and provide key ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants and sediments from the rivers. Most famously, the bay is a key link in the Pacific Flyway and with millions of shorebirds annually visiting

13542-575: The Catholic Monarchs gave official approval for the plans for Columbus's voyage to reach "the Indies" by sailing West, the funding came from the queen of Castile. The profits from Spanish expedition flowed to Castile. The Kingdom of Portugal authorized a series of voyages down the coast of Africa and when they rounded the southern tip, were able to sail to India and further east. Spain sought similar wealth, and authorized Columbus's voyage sailing west. Once

13725-724: The Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada. In 2014, a Bay Area-wide survey found osprey had extended their breeding range southward with nesting sites as far south as Hunters Point in San Francisco on the west side and Hayward on the east side, while further studies have found nesting sites as far south as the Los Gatos Creek watershed, indicating that the nesting range now includes the entire length of San Francisco Bay. Most nests were built on man-made structures close to areas of human disturbance, likely due to lack of mature trees near

13908-529: The Chichimeca demanded. "Peace by purchase" ended the conflict. In southern Chile and the pampas, the Araucanians (Mapuche) prevented further Spanish expansion. The image of mounted Araucanians capturing and carrying off white women was the embodiment of Spanish ideas of civilization and barbarism. Cattle multiplied quickly in areas where little else could turn a profit for Spaniards, including northern Mexico and

14091-451: The Columbus voyages, which were funded by the crown of Castile, were done at the expense of the leader of the expedition and its participants. Although often the participants, conquistadors , are now termed "soldiers", they were not paid soldiers in ranks of an army, but rather soldiers of fortune , who joined an expedition with the expectation of profiting from it. The leader of an expedition,

14274-502: The Comanche in the northern Great Plains and the Mapuche in southern Chile and the pampas of Argentina resisted Spanish conquest. For Spaniards, the fierce Chichimecas barred them for exploiting mining resources in northern Mexico. Spaniards waged a fifty-year war (ca. 1550–1600) to subdue them, but peace was only achieved by Spaniards' making significant donations of food and other commodities

14457-517: The Dominican Republic (Hispaniola), have become important. Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos denounced Spanish cruelty and abuse in a sermon in 1511, which comes down to us in the writings of Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas . In 1542 Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote a damning account of this demographic catastrophe, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies . It

14640-635: The East Bay receives oceanic weather that travels through the Golden Gate strait, and further diffuses that air through the Berkeley Hills , Niles Canyon and the Hayward Pass into the Livermore Valley and Altamont Pass . Here, the resulting breeze is so strong that it is home to one of the world's largest array of wind turbines . Further north, the Carquinez Strait funnels the ocean weather into

14823-529: The German Welser and Fugger banking families. To satisfy his debts to the Welsers, he granted them the right to colonize and exploit western Venezuela, with the proviso that they found two towns with 300 settlers each and construct fortifications. They established the colony of Klein-Venedig in 1528. They founded the towns of Coro and Maracaibo . They were aggressive in making their investment pay, alienating

15006-584: The Gold Rush subsided, wealth generated from the endeavor led to the establishment of Wells Fargo Bank and the Bank of California , and immigrant laborers attracted by the promise of wealth transformed the demographic makeup of the region. Construction of the First transcontinental railroad from the Oakland Long Wharf attracted so many laborers from China that by 1870, eight percent of San Francisco's population

15189-540: The Habsburg dynasty in 1700 saw major administrative reforms in the eighteenth century under the Bourbon monarchy, starting with the first Spanish Bourbon monarch, Philip V (r. 1700–1746) and reaching its apogee under Charles III (r. 1759–1788). The reorganization of administration has been called "a revolution in government." Reforms sought to centralize government control through reorganization of administration, reinvigorate

15372-500: The Indies. From that misperception the Spanish called the indigenous peoples of the Americas , "Indians" ( indios ), lumping a multiplicity of civilizations, groups, and individuals into a single category. The Spanish royal government called its overseas possessions "The Indies" until its empire dissolved in the nineteenth century. In the Caribbean, because there was no integrated indigenous civilization such as found in Mexico and Peru, there

15555-497: The Mexican Bajío . They also imported cane sugar, which was a high-value crop in early Spanish America. Spaniards also imported citrus trees, establishing orchards of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit. Other imports were figs, apricots, cherries, pears, and peaches among others. The exchange did not go one way. Important indigenous crops that transformed Europe were the potato and maize , which produced abundant crops that led to

15738-725: The Muslims since 711. On 31 March 1492, the Catholic Monarch ordered the expulsion of the Jews in Spain who refused to convert to Christianity. Having departed from the port of Palos de la Frontera on 3 August 1492, on 12 October 1492, Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus and his crew made landfall in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1493 permanent Spanish settlement of the Americas began. Castile and Aragon were ruled jointly by their respective monarchs, but they remained separate kingdoms. When

15921-469: The North American south and southwest until 1536. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was one of four survivors of that expedition, writing an account of it. The crown later sent him to Asunción , Paraguay to be adelantado there. Expeditions continued to explore territories in hopes of finding another Aztec or Inca empire, with no further success. Francisco de Ibarra led an expedition from Zacatecas in northern New Spain, and founded Durango . Juan de Oñate ,

16104-828: The North Bay, northern East Bay, and Central Valley. Ohlone villages were spread across the Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay, as well as further south into the Monterey Bay area. There were eight major divisions of Ohlone people, four of which were based in the Bay Area: the Karkin of the Carquinez Strait , the Chochenyo of the East Bay , the Ramaytush of the San Francisco Peninsula , and

16287-712: The Pacific Plate and the North American plate. The three major ridge structures in the Bay Area, part of the Pacific Coast Range , are all roughly parallel to the major faults . The Santa Cruz Mountains along the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Hills in Marin County follow the San Andreas fault , The Berkeley Hills , San Leandro Hills and their southern ridgeline extension through Mission Peak roughly follow

16470-522: The Philippines . Seeking the fastest route south, the expedition sailed past the Golden Gate, arriving at Puerto de Chacala, Mexico on January 17, 1596. The Bay Area estuaries remained unknown to Europeans until members of the Portolá expedition , while trekking along the California coast, encountered them in 1769 when the Golden Gate blocked their continued journey north. Several missions were founded in

16653-478: The San Francisco Bay Area are not officially delineated, and the unique development patterns influenced by the region's topography , as well as unusual commute patterns caused by the presence of three central cities and employment centers located in various suburban locales, has led to considerable disagreement between local and federal definitions of the area. Because of this, professor of geography at

16836-511: The Seven Cities in 1599–1604. This Mapuche victory laid the foundation for the establishment of a Spanish-Mapuche frontier called La Frontera . Within this frontier the city of Concepción assumed the role of "military capital" of Spanish-ruled Chile. With a hostile indigenous population, no obvious mineral or other exploitable resources, and little strategic value, Chile was a fringe area of colonial Spanish America, hemmed in geographically by

17019-403: The Spaniards had exclusive access to horses in warfare, they had an advantage over indigenous warriors on foot. They were initially a scarce commodity, but horse breeding became an active industry. Horses that escaped Spanish control were captured by indigenous; many indigenous also raided for horses. Mounted indigenous warriors were significant foes for Spaniards. The Chichimeca in northern Mexico,

17202-503: The Spanish empire had a royal treasury controlled by a set of oficiales reales (royal officials). There were also sub-treasuries at important ports and mining districts. The officials of the royal treasury at each level of government typically included two to four positions: a tesorero (treasurer), the senior official who guarded money on hand and made payments; a contador (accountant or comptroller ), who recorded income and payments, maintained records, and interpreted royal instructions;

17385-612: The Spanish in Chile halted after the conquest of Chiloé Archipelago in 1567. This is thought to have been the result of an increasingly harsh climate to the south, and the lack of a populous and sedentary indigenous population to settle among for the Spanish in the fjords and channels of Patagonia . South of the Bío-Bío River the Mapuche successfully reversed colonization with the Destruction of

17568-451: The Spanish settlement in the Caribbean occurred, Spain and Portugal formalized a division of the world between them in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas . The deeply pious Isabella saw the expansion of Spain's sovereignty inextricably paired with the evangelization of non-Christian peoples, the so-called "spiritual conquest" with the military conquest. Pope Alexander VI in a 4 May 1493 papal decree, Inter caetera , divided rights to lands in

17751-463: The Spanish, to extract mineral wealth or produce another valuable commodity for Spanish enrichment. The labor of dense populations of Taínos were allocated as grants to Spanish settlers in an institution known as the encomienda , where particular indigenous settlements were awarded to individual Spaniards. There was surface gold found in early islands, and holders of encomiendas put the indigenous to work panning for it. For all practical purposes, this

17934-685: The Western Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal on the proviso that they spread Christianity. These formal arrangements between Spain and Portugal and the pope were ignored by other European powers, with the French, the English, and the Dutch seizing territory in the Caribbean and in North America claimed by Spain but not effectively settled. Portugal's claim to part of South America under the Treaty of Tordesillas resulted in

18117-484: The Whale , a humpback whale who entered San Francisco Bay twice on errant migrations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises have recently returned to the bay, having been absent for many decades. Historically, this was the northern extent of their warm-water species range. In addition to the many species of marine birds that can be seen in the Bay Area, many other species of birds make

18300-505: The area from 1821 until the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . Also in 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold in nearby mountains , resulting in explosive immigration to the area and the precipitous decline of the Native population . The California Gold Rush brought rapid growth to San Francisco . California was admitted as the 31st state in 1850. A major earthquake and fire leveled much of San Francisco in 1906. During World War II ,

18483-471: The arts. It is also host to numerous higher education institutions, including research universities such as the University of California, Berkeley , and Stanford University , the latter known for helping to create the high tech center called Silicon Valley . Home to 101 municipalities and 9 counties, governance in the Bay Area involves numerous local and regional jurisdictions, often with broad and overlapping responsibilities. The Coyote Hills Shell Mound,

18666-590: The bay has been significantly altered heavily re-engineered to accommodate the needs of water delivery, shipping, agriculture, and urban development, with side effects including the loss of wetlands and the introduction of contaminants and invasive species . Approximately 85% of those marshes have been lost or destroyed, but about 50 marshes and marsh fragments remain. Huge tracts of the marshes were originally destroyed by farmers for agricultural purposes, then repurposed to serve as salt evaporation ponds to produce salt for food and other purposes. Today, regulations limit

18849-436: The bay into north and south regions. In 1989, the federal Environmental Protection Agency defined the South Bay as the northern part of Santa Clara County and the southeastern part of San Mateo County. The Bay Area is located in the warm-summer Mediterranean climate zone ( Köppen Csb ) that is a characteristic of California's coast, featuring mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall, and warm to hot, dry summers. It

19032-496: The bay shallows as a refuge, is the most important component of the flyway south of Alaska . Many endangered species of birds are also found here: the California least tern , the California clapper rail , the snowy egret , and the black crowned night heron . There is also a significant diversity of salmonids present in the bay. Steelhead populations in California have dramatically declined due to human and natural causes; in

19215-479: The bay, with uptake in the bay's phytoplankton and contamination of its sportfish . Aquatic mammals are also present in the bay. Before 1825, Spanish, French, English, Russians and Americans were drawn to the Bay Area to harvest prodigious quantities of beaver , river otter , marten, fisher, mink, fox, weasel, harbor and fur seals and sea otter . This early fur trade, known as the California Fur Rush ,

19398-658: The beginning of Spanish power beyond the Iberian Peninsula . They pursued a policy of joint rule of their kingdoms and created the initial stage of a single Spanish monarchy , completed under the eighteenth-century Bourbon monarchs. The first expansion of territory was the conquest of the Muslim Emirate of Granada on 1 January 1492, the culmination of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, held by

19581-449: The behavior of Spanish settlers in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians in the institution of the encomienda . They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the forced resettlement of indigenous populations with attempts of conversion to Catholicism. Upon their failure to effectively protect the indigenous and following the Spanish conquest of

19764-467: The business venture was a financial failure, it was the first semiconductor company in the Bay Area, and the talent that it attracted to the region eventually led to a high-tech cluster of companies later known as Silicon Valley . In 1989, in the middle of a World Series game between two Bay Area baseball teams, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck and caused widespread infrastructural damage, including

19947-471: The capital of Paraguay . Exploration from Peru resulted in the foundation of Tucumán in what is now northwest Argentina. Much of what is now the Southern United States was claimed by Spain, some of it at least explored by the Spanish starting in the early 1500s, and some permanent settlements established. Spanish explorers claimed land for the crown in the modern-day states of Alabama, Arizona,

20130-553: The city of San Francisco, natural and artificial topographical features direct the movement of wind and fog, resulting in startlingly varied climates between city blocks. Along the Golden Gate Strait , oceanic wind and fog from the Pacific Ocean are able to penetrate the mountain barriers inland into the Bay Area. During the summer, rising hot air in California's interior valleys creates a low pressure area that draws winds from

20313-498: The coastal islands of Cubagua and Margarita to exploit the pearl beds. Western Venezuela's history took an atypical direction in 1528, when Spain's first Hapsburg monarch, Charles I granted rights to colonize to the German banking family of the Welsers . Charles sought to be elected Holy Roman Emperor and was willing to pay whatever it took to achieve that. He became deeply indebted to

20496-453: The colonial economy. In Peru, silver was found in a single silver mountain, the Cerro Rico de Potosí , which is still producing silver in the 21st century. Potosí (founded 1545) was in the zone of dense indigenous settlement, so that labor could be mobilized on traditional patterns to extract the ore. An important element for productive mining was mercury for processing high-grade ore. Peru had

20679-409: The conditions in a jurisdiction, the position of factor/veedor was often eliminated, as well. The treasury officials were appointed by the king, and were largely independent of the authority of the viceroy, audiencia president or governor. On the death, unauthorized absence, retirement or removal of a governor, the treasury officials would jointly govern the province until a new governor appointed by

20862-473: The conquest of central Mexico include accounts by the expedition leader Hernán Cortés, Bernal Díaz del Castillo and other Spanish conquistadors, indigenous allies from the city-states altepetl of Tlaxcala, Texcoco , and Huexotzinco. In addition, indigenous accounts were written by the defeated from the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan , a case of history being written by those other than the victors. The capture of

21045-571: The conventional sense but were the rulers of a confederation of dozens of city-states and other polities; the status of each varied from harshly subjugated to closely allied. The Spaniards persuaded the leaders of Aztec vassals and Tlaxcala (a city-state never conquered by the Aztecs), to ally with them against the Aztecs. Through such methods, the Spaniards came to accumulate a massive force of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of indigenous warriors. Records of

21228-494: The country, has five MSAs which include, wholly or partially, areas within the nine-county definition, and one CSA which includes eight Bay Area counties (excluding Sonoma ), but including neighboring San Benito , Santa Cruz , San Joaquin , Merced , and Stanislaus counties. The Association of Bay Area Health Officers (ABAHO), an organization that has fought local outbreaks of HIV/AIDS in 1980s and with COVID-19 pandemic and Delta cron hybrid variant (2020–22), consists of

21411-482: The creation of Portuguese colony of Brazil. Although during the rule of Charles V , the Spanish Empire was the first to be called " The empire on which the sun never sets ", under Philip II the permanent colonization of the Philippine Islands made it demonstrably true. The Spanish expansion has sometimes been succinctly summed up as being motivated by "gold, glory, God", that is, the search for material wealth,

21594-479: The crown put in place laws to protect their newly converted indigenous vassals. Europeans imported enslaved Africans to the early Caribbean settlements to replace indigenous labor and enslaved and free Africans were part of colonial-era populations. A mixed-race casta population came into being during the period of Spanish rule. In the early 19th century, the Spanish American wars of independence resulted in

21777-453: The crown that the region he now controlled held a huge treasure in the form of gold and spices. Spanish settlers initially found relatively dense populations of indigenous peoples, who were agriculturalists living in villages ruled by leaders not part of a larger integrated political system. The Spanish saw these populations as a source of labor, there for their exploitation, to supply their own settlements with foodstuffs, but more importantly for

21960-405: The density of Spanish settlement in the long term. One was the presence or absence of dense, hierarchically organized indigenous populations that could be made to work. The other was the presence or absence of an exploitable resource for the enrichment of settlers. Best was gold, but silver was found in abundance. The two main areas of Spanish settlement after 1550 were Mexico and Peru, the sites of

22143-490: The destruction of tidal marshes, and large portions are currently being rehabilitated to their natural state. Over time, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's water security . According to the 2010 United States Census , the population of the nine-county Bay Area was 7.15 million, with 49.6% male and 50.4% female. Of these, approximately 2.3 million (32%) are foreign born. In 2010

22326-486: The director of a top-secret research project at Harvard University during World War II, joined the faculty at Stanford University in order to reshape the university's engineering department. His students, including David Packard and William Hewlett , would later help usher in the region's high-tech revolution. In 1955, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory opened for business in Mountain View near Stanford, and although

22509-457: The discovery of large quantities of silver became the motor of the Spanish colonial economy, a major source of income for the Spanish crown, and transformed the international economy. Mining regions in Mexico were remote, outside the zone of indigenous settlement in central and southern Mexico Mesoamerica , but mines in Zacatecas (founded 1548) and Guanajuato (founded 1548) emerged as key hubs in

22692-585: The earliest known archaeological evidence of human habitation of the Bay Area estuaries, dates to around 10,000 BCE, with evidence pointing to even earlier settlement in Point Reyes in Marin County . It has been conjectured that the people living in the Bay Area at the time of first European contact were descended from Siberian tribes who arrived at around 1,000 BCE by sailing over the Arctic Ocean and following

22875-583: The early 1960s, the Bay Area and the rest of Northern California became the center of the counterculture movement . Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco were seen as centers of activity, with the hit American pop song San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) further enticing like-minded individuals to join the movement in the Bay Area and leading to

23058-403: The early Caribbean period, particularly Frey Nicolás de Ovando , who was sent to investigate the administration of Francisco de Bobadilla , the governor appointed to succeed Christopher Columbus. Later ecclesiastics served as interim viceroys, general inspectors (visitadores), and other high posts. The crown established control over trade and emigration to the Indies with the 1503 establishment

23241-587: The economies of Spain and the Spanish empire through changes in mercantile and fiscal policies, defend Spanish colonies and territorial claims through the establishment of a standing military, undermine the power of the Catholic church, and rein in the power of the American-born elites. The crown relied on ecclesiastics as important councilors and royal officials in the governance of their overseas territories. Archbishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca , Isabella's confessor,

23424-628: The effects of the quake hastened the loss of the region's dominant status in California to the Los Angeles metropolitan area . During the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent economic depression , not a single San Francisco-based bank failed, while the region attempted to spur job growth by simultaneously undertaking two large infrastructure projects: construction of the Golden Gate Bridge , which would connect San Francisco with Marin County , and

23607-558: The end of the Gold Rush, two thirds of the indigenous population had been killed. During this same time, a constitutional convention was called to determine California's application for statehood into the United States. After statehood was granted, the capital city moved between three cities in the Bay Area: San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1851–1852), and Benicia (1852–1853) before permanently settling in Sacramento in 1854. As

23790-442: The enhancement of the conquerors' and the crown's position, and the expansion of Christianity to the exclusion of other religious traditions. In the extension of Spanish sovereignty to its overseas territories, authority for expeditions ( entradas ) of discovery, conquest, and settlement resided in the monarchy. Expeditions required authorization by the crown, which laid out the terms of such expedition. Virtually all expeditions after

23973-700: The expansion of populations in Europe. Chocolate and vanilla were cultivated in Mexico and exported to Europe. Among the foodstuffs that became staples in European cuisine and could be grown there were tomatoes, squashes, bell peppers, cashews , pecans and peanuts . The empire in the Indies was a newly established dependency of the kingdom of Castile alone, so crown power was not impeded by any existing cortes (i.e. parliament), administrative or ecclesiastical institution, or seigneurial group. The crown sought to establish and maintain control over its overseas possessions through

24156-575: The failure of the Bay Bridge , a major link between San Francisco and Oakland . Even so, the Bay Area's technology industry continued to expand and growth in Silicon Valley accelerated: the United States census confirmed that year that San Jose had overtaken San Francisco in terms of population. The commercialization of the Internet in the middle of the decade rapidly created a speculative bubble in

24339-573: The first time over Portsmouth Square . In 1848, James W. Marshall 's discovery of gold in the American River sparked the California Gold Rush , and within half a year 4,000 men were panning for gold along the river and finding $ 50,000 per day. The promise of fabulous riches quickly led to a stampede of wealth-seekers descending on Sutter's Mill . The Bay Area's population quickly emptied out as laborers, clerks, waiters, and servants joined

24522-481: The following years the conquistadors and indigenous allies extended control over Greater Andes Region. The Viceroyalty of Perú was established in 1542. The last Inca stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572. Peru was the last territory on the continent under Spanish rule, which ended on 9 December 1824 at the Battle of Ayacucho (Spanish rule continued until 1898 in Cuba and Puerto Rico). [Chile] has four months of winter, no more, and in them, except when there

24705-399: The foundation of St. Augustine by six years, marking an important yet often overlooked moment in the history of Spanish colonization. Archaeological evidence from the University of West Florida has confirmed the presence of Luna's expedition, which included 1,500 people and lasted from 1559 to 1561. The artifacts discovered at the site provide a direct link to Spain's early efforts to colonize

24888-439: The governor of Cuba to form an expedition of exploration-only to this far western region. That expedition was to make world history. The Caribbean islands became less central to Spain's overseas colonization, but remained important strategically and economically, especially the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Smaller islands claimed by Spain were lost to the English and the Dutch, with France taking half of Hispaniola and establishing

25071-420: The governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of Captain general . The office of captain general involved to be the supreme military chief of the whole territory and he was responsible for recruiting and providing troops, the fortification of the territory, the supply and the shipbuilding. Beginning in 1522 in the newly conquered Mexico, government units in

25254-424: The high-tech economy known as the dot-com bubble . This bubble began collapsing in the early 2000s and the industry continued contracting for the next few years, nearly wiping out the market. Companies like Amazon.com and Google managed to weather the crash however, and following the industry's return to normalcy, their market value increased significantly. Even as the growth of the technology sector transformed

25437-661: The indigenous people, it had to be refounded several times, until Diego Hernández de Serpa 's foundation in 1569. The Spanish founded San Sebastián de Uraba in 1509 but abandoned it within the year. There is indirect evidence that the first permanent Spanish mainland settlement established in the Americas was Santa María la Antigua del Darién . Spaniards spent over 25 years in the Caribbean where their initial high hopes of dazzling wealth gave way to continuing exploitation of disappearing indigenous populations, exhaustion of local gold mines, initiation of cane sugar cultivation as an export product, and forced migration of enslaved Africans as

25620-529: The indigenous peoples. After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy. In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the New World affairs, other new institutions were created. As the basic political entity it was the governorate, or province. The governors exercised judicial ordinary functions of first instance, and prerogatives of government legislating by ordinances. To these political functions of

25803-506: The indigenous population. From the Spanish viewpoint, their source of labor and viability of their own settlements was at risk. After the collapse of the Taino population of Hispaniola, Spaniards began raiding indigenous settlements on nearby islands, including Cuba , Puerto Rico , and Jamaica , to enslave those populations, replicating the demographic catastrophe there as well. The names of two indigenous leaders ( caciques ) who rebelled against Spanish colonization, Enriquillo and Hatuey in

25986-399: The indigenous populations and Spaniards alike. Charles revoked the grant in 1545, ending the episode of German colonization . Argentina was not conquered or later exploited in the grand fashion of central Mexico or Peru, since the indigenous population was sparse and there were no precious metals or other valuable resources. Although today Buenos Aires at the mouth of Río de la Plata is

26169-402: The interior, causing a cooling effect for cities along the Peninsula and even as far south as San Jose. This weather pattern is also the source for delays at San Francisco International Airport . In Marin county north of the Golden Gate strait, two gaps north of Muir Woods bring cold air across the Marin Headlands , with the cooling effect reaching as far north as Santa Rosa . Further inland,

26352-400: The king could take up his duties. Treasury officials were supposed to be paid out of the income from the province, and were normally prohibited from engaging in income-producing activities. The protection of the indigenous populations from enslavement and exploitation by Spanish settlers were established in the Laws of Burgos , 1512–1513. The laws were the first codified set of laws governing

26535-408: The larger subregions, the East Bay includes a variety of enclaves, including the suburban Tri-Valley area and the highly urban western part of the subregion that runs alongside the bay, including Oakland. The " North Bay " includes Marin , Sonoma , Napa , and Solano counties, and is the geographically largest and least populated subregion. The western counties of Marin and Sonoma are encased by

26718-429: The latter two into the Pacific Ocean. In the South Bay, the Guadalupe River drains into San Francisco Bay near Alviso . There are also several lakes present in the Bay Area, including man-made lakes like Lake Berryessa and natural albeit heavily modified lakes like Lake Merritt . Prior to the introduction of European agricultural methods, the shores of San Francisco Bay consisted mostly of tidal marshes. Today,

26901-537: The launching point for further expeditions. These were often led by secondary leaders, such as Pedro de Alvarado . Later conquests in Mexico were protracted campaigns with less immediate results than the conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán , the Spanish conquest of Guatemala , the conquest of the Purépecha of Michoacan, the war of Mexico's west , and the Chichimeca War in northern Mexico expanded Spanish control over territory and indigenous populations stretching thousands of miles. Not until

27084-402: The most ethnically diverse cities in the United States. Spanish colonization of the Americas The Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) after the initial 1492 voyage of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus under license from Queen Isabella I of Castile . These overseas territories of

27267-400: The names of two Spaniards are popularly known because they led the conquests of two indigenous empires, Hernán Cortés , leader of the expedition involved in the conquest of the Aztec Empire , and Francisco Pizarro , leader of the conquest of the Inca in Peru. Spanish conquerors took advantage of indigenous rivalries to forge alliances with groups seeing an advantage for their own goals. This

27450-462: The new Bourbon dynasty . The indigenous population plummeted by an estimated 80% in the first century and a half following Columbus's voyages, primarily through the spread of infectious diseases . Practices of forced labor and slavery for resource extraction, and forced resettlement in new villages and later missions were implemented. Alarmed by the precipitous fall in indigenous populations and reports of settlers' exploitation of their labor,

27633-542: The northern Gulf Coast. In the fall of 1528, Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca landed on present day Follet's Island, Texas . In 1565, Spain established a settlement in St. Augustine, Florida , lasting in one way or another until modern times. Permanent Spanish settlements were founded in New Mexico , starting in 1598, with Santa Fe founded in 1610. The spectacular conquests of central Mexico (1519–1521) and Peru (1532) sparked Spaniards' hopes of finding yet another high civilization. Expeditions continued into

27816-434: The officials and elites were closest to the main square. Once on the mainland, where there were dense indigenous populations in urban settlements, the Spanish could build a Spanish settlement on the same site, dating its foundation to when that occurred. Often they erected a church on the site of an indigenous temple. They replicated the existing indigenous network of settlements, but added a port city. The Spanish network needed

27999-423: The participation of indigenous allies, the conquest of central Mexico was protracted and necessitated significant numbers of indigenous allies, who chose to participate in defeating the Aztec Empire for their own purposes. The conquest of the Aztec Empire involved the combined effort of armies from many indigenous allies, spearheaded by a small Spanish force of conquistadors. The Aztecs did not govern over an empire in

28182-517: The public health officers of 9 Bay Area counties, in addition to the Central Coast counties of Santa Cruz , San Benito , and Monterey and the city of Berkeley . Among locals, the nine-county Bay Area is divided into five sub-regions: the East Bay , North Bay , Peninsula , city of San Francisco , and South Bay . The " East Bay " is the densest region of the Bay Area outside of San Francisco and includes cities and towns in Alameda and Contra Costa counties centered around Oakland . As one of

28365-497: The racial makeup of the nine-county Bay Area was 52.5% White (42.4% were non-Hispanic and 10.1% were Hispanic ), 23.3% Asian , 6.7% non-Hispanic Black or African American , 0.7% Native American or Alaska Native , 0.6% Pacific Islander , 5.4% from two or more races and 10.8% from other races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race formed 23.5% of the population. The Bay Area cities of Vallejo , Suisun City , Oakland , San Leandro , Fairfield , and Richmond are among

28548-407: The region and even riots in Oakland. His name was symbolically tied to the Occupy Oakland protests two years later that sought to fight against social and economic inequality. By August 2023, San Francisco was in such severe decline that Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose joked that one day the region might be renamed the "San Jose Bay Area", after its largest and most prosperous city. The borders of

28731-410: The region for Queen Elizabeth I as Nova Albion or New Albion , the English made no immediate follow up to the claim. In 1595, Philip II of Spain tasked Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho with mapping the west coast of the Americas. Soromenho set sail on Manila Galleon San Agustin on July 5, 1595 and in early November they reached land between Point St. George and Trinidad Head , north of

28914-455: The region's economy, progressive politics continued to guide the region's political environment. By the turn of the millennium, non-Hispanic whites , the largest ethnic group in the United States, were only half of the population in the Bay Area as immigration among minority groups accelerated. During this time, the Bay Area was the center of the LGBT rights movement : in 2004, San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples ,

29097-437: The result of millions of years of tectonic plate movements. Because the Bay Area is crossed by six major earthquake faults , the region is particularly exposed to hazards presented by large earthquakes. The climate is temperate and conducive to outdoor recreational and athletic activities such as hiking, running, and cycling. The Bay Area is host to five professional sports teams and is a cultural center for music, theater, and

29280-989: The ruins of the Aztec capital. Their central official and ceremonial area was built on top of Aztec palaces and temples. In Peru, Spaniards founded the city of Lima as their capital and its nearby port of Callao , rather than the high-altitude site of Cuzco , the center of Inca rule. Spaniards established a network of settlements in areas they conquered and controlled. Important ones include Santiago de Guatemala (1524); Puebla (1531); Querétaro (ca. 1531); Guadalajara (1531–42); Valladolid (now Morelia ), (1529–41); Antequera (now Oaxaca (1525–29); Campeche (1541); and Mérida . In southern Central and South America, settlements were founded in Panama (1519); León, Nicaragua (1524); Cartagena (1532); Piura (1532); Quito (1534); Trujillo (1535); Cali (1537) Bogotá (1538); Quito (1534); Cuzco 1534); Lima (1535); Tunja , (1539); Huamanga (1539); Arequipa (1540); Santiago de Chile (1544) and Concepción, Chile (1550). Settled from

29463-405: The rush to find gold, and California's first newspaper, The Californian , was forced to announce a temporary freeze in new issues due to labor shortages. By the end of 1849, news had spread across the world and newcomers flooded into the Bay Area at a rate of one thousand per week on their way to California's interior, including the first large influx of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The rush

29646-426: The salmon migration. However the current academic consensus is compatible with the oral tradition of the Ohlone and Miwok peoples, which suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for several hundreds if not thousands of years. At the time of colonization, the Ohlone peoples in the Bay Area primarily lived on the San Francisco Peninsula, in the South Bay and in the East Bay, and the Miwok primarily lived in

29829-460: The secession of most of Spanish America and the establishment of independent nations. Continuing under crown rule were Cuba and Puerto Rico , along with the Philippines , which were all lost to the United States in 1898, following the Spanish–American War , ending its rule in the Americas. The expansion of Spain's territory took place under the Catholic Monarchs Isabella I of Castile and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon , whose marriage marked

30012-480: The south were Buenos Aires (1536, 1580); Asunción (1537); Potosí (1545); La Paz, Bolivia (1548); and Tucumán (1553). The Columbian Exchange was as significant as the clash of civilizations. Arguably the most significant introduction was diseases brought to the Americas, which devastated indigenous populations in a series of epidemics. The loss of indigenous population had a direct impact on Spaniards as well, since increasingly they saw those populations as

30195-550: The staff for many years, covering Bay Area television and radio. He was an occasional guest on KGO Radio talk shows. In 1968, Amphlett acquired several weekly newspapers in San Bruno , South San Francisco , Pacifica , and Daly City . All operations for these papers were moved to a central facility in South San Francisco. In 1996, the Times and the surviving weekly newspapers owned and published by Amphlett were purchased by ANG Newspapers (Alameda Newspaper Group), an Oakland, California -based subsidiary of MediaNews Group ,

30378-416: The sugar-producing colony of St-Domingue , as well as also taking other islands. With Spanish expansion into central Mexico under conqueror Hernán Cortés and the conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521)Spanish explorers were able to find wealth on the scale that they had long hoped for. Unlike Spanish contact with indigenous populations in the Caribbean, which involved limited armed combat and sometimes

30561-417: The territory would be short-lived, however, and in 1846 a party of settlers occupied Sonoma Plaza and proclaimed the independence of the new Republic of California . That same year, the Mexican–American War began, and American captain John Berrien Montgomery sailed the USS  Portsmouth into the bay and seized San Francisco, which was then known as Yerba Buena , and raised the American flag for

30744-455: The territory, the king, as sovereign, and the appointed leader of an expedition ( adelantado ) agreed to an itemized contract ( capitulación ), with the specifics of the conditions of the expedition in a particular territory. The individual leaders of expeditions assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories; and in addition, they received instructions about treating

30927-403: The tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, the city of San Francisco is not considered part of the "Peninsula" subregion, but as a separate entity. The term "South Bay" has different meanings to different groups: Writing in 1959 for the Army Corps of Engineers , the United States Department of Commerce defined the South Bay as comprising five counties, corresponding to their two-way division of

31110-444: The titular city of San Francisco. Its eastern half, which runs alongside the Bay, is highly populated, while its less populated western coast traces the coastline of the Pacific Ocean and is known for its open space and hiking trails. Roughly coinciding with the borders of San Mateo County , it also includes the northwestern Santa Clara County cities of Palo Alto , Mountain View , and Los Altos . Although geographically located on

31293-474: The trade with the Indies. The politics of asserting royal authority to oppose Columbus resulted in the suppression of his privileges and the creation of territorial governance under royal authority. These governorates, also called as provinces, were the basic of the territorial government of the Indies, and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized. To carry out the expedition ( entrada ), which entailed exploration, conquest, and initial settlement of

31476-419: The western counties in the Bay Area, leaving only Alameda , Contra Costa , and Solano counties as remnants of a once large breeding range. Bald eagles were once common in the Bay Area, but habitat destruction and thinning of eggs from DDT poisoning reduced the California state population to 35 nesting pairs. Bald eagles disappeared from the Bay Area in 1915, and only began returning in recent years. In

31659-459: The winter season is cool and mild, the summer season is characterized by warm sunny days, while in San Francisco and areas closer to the Golden Gate strait, the summer season is periodically affected by fog. Due to the Bay Area's diverse topographic relief (itself the result of the clashing tectonic plates ), the region is home to numerous microclimates that lead to pronounced differences in climate and temperature over short distances. Within

31842-408: Was a typical tactic of warfare: divide and conquer. But the indigenous allies had much to gain by throwing off Aztec rule. For the Spaniards' Tlaxcalan allies, their crucial support gained them enduring political legacy into the modern era, the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The conquest of central Mexico sparked further Spanish conquests, following the pattern of conquered and consolidated regions being

32025-415: Was first reported in Redwood Creek at Muir Beach in 1996, has since been spotted in the North Bay's Corte Madera Creek , the South Bay's Coyote Creek , as well as in 2010 in San Francisco Bay itself at the Richmond Marina . Other mammals include the internationally famous sea lions who began inhabiting San Francisco's Pier 39 after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the locally famous Humphrey

32208-428: Was instrumental in loaning out funds for rebuilding efforts. Congress immediately approved plans for a reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park , a plan they had denied a few years earlier, which now provides drinking water for 2.4 million people in the Bay Area. By 1915, the city had been sufficiently rebuilt and advertised itself to the world during the Panama Pacific Exposition that year, although

32391-443: Was more than any other single factor, responsible for opening up the West and the San Francisco Bay Area, in particular, to world trade. By 1817 sea otter in the area were practically eliminated. Since then, the California golden beaver re-established a presence in Alhambra Creek , followed by the Napa River and Sonoma Creek in the north, and the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek in the south. The North American river otter which

32574-519: Was no large-scale Spanish conquest of indigenous peoples, but there was indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization. Columbus made four voyages to the West Indies as the monarchs granted Columbus vast powers of governance over this unknown part of the world. The crown of Castile financed more of his trans-Atlantic journeys, a pattern they would not repeat elsewhere. Effective Spanish settlement began in 1493, when Columbus brought livestock, seeds, agricultural equipment. The first settlement of La Navidad ,

32757-516: Was of Asian origin. The completion of the railroad connected the Bay Area with the rest of the United States, established a truly national marketplace for the trade of goods, and accelerated the urbanization of the region. In the early morning of April 18, 1906, a large earthquake with an epicenter near the city of San Francisco hit the region. Immediate casualty estimates by the U.S. Army 's relief operations were 498 deaths in San Francisco, 64 deaths in Santa Rosa , and 102 in or near San Jose, for

32940-504: Was slavery. Queen Isabel put an end to formal slavery, declaring the indigenous to be vassals of the crown, but Spaniards' exploitation of indigenous labor continued. The Taíno population on Hispaniola went from hundreds of thousands or millions – the estimates by scholars vary widely – but in the mid-1490s, they were practically wiped out. Disease and overwork, disruption of family life and the agricultural cycle (which caused severe food shortages to Spaniards dependent on them) rapidly decimated

33123-413: Was so great that vessels were abandoned by the hundreds in San Francisco's ports as crews rushed to the goldfields. The unprecedented influx of new arrivals spread the nascent government authorities thin, and the military was unable to prevent desertions. As a result, numerous vigilante groups formed to provide order, but many tasked themselves with forcibly moving or killing local Native Americans , and by

33306-474: Was tasked with reining in Columbus's independence. He strongly influenced the formulation of colonial policy under the Catholic Monarchs, and was instrumental in establishing the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) (1503), which enabled crown control over trade and immigration. Ovando fitted out Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation, and became the first President of the Council of the Indies in 1524. Ecclesiastics also functioned as administrators overseas in

33489-459: Was translated quickly to English and became the basis for the anti-Spanish writings, collectively known as the Black Legend . Las Casas spent his long life attempting to defend the indigenous populations and to enlist the Spanish crown in establishing protections for them, seen most prominently in the enactment of the New Laws of 1542, restricting Spaniards' inheritance of encomiendas . The first mainland explorations by Spaniards were followed by

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