Northern California


Northern California is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's 58 counties. Northern California in its largest definition is determined by dividing the state into two regions, the other being Southern California. The main northern population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Sacramento area, the Redding, California, area south of the Cascade Range, and the Metropolitan Fresno area. Northern California is coterminous with the natural range of the coast redwood and the giant sequoia, with many well-known old-growth forests and smaller groves. It contains most of the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta, and most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. Northern California is also home to Silicon Valley, the global headquarters for several of the largest most powerful companies in the world, including Alphabet Inc. (Google), Apple, Meta, and Nvidia.
The Northern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States is centered in Northern California, and extends from Metropolitan Fresno north to Greater Sacramento, and from the Bay Area east across the Nevada state line to encompass the entire Lake Tahoe–Reno area.
Evidence of Native American habitation in the area dates from at least 19,000 years ago and successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America. The arrival of European explorers from the early 16th to the mid-18th centuries did not establish European settlements in northern California. In 1770, the missions in California|Spanish mission] at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County.

Description

North–south divisions of California

California experienced a population boom during California [gold rush|its gold rush], bringing more than 300,000 new residents, with very few of these settling in the southern part of the state. The northern two-thirds of the state was seen as the main part, and was often referred to as simply "California", while the southern third was called "Southern California". At that time, the state was profoundly divided by the Tehachapi Mountains which were a barrier to travelers before highways were built, and remain a bioregion barrier. This geographical barrier curves from Point Conception at the Pacific Ocean eastward through the Transverse Ranges including Mount Pinos and Tejon Pass, continuing through the Tehachapi Mountains including Tehachapi Pass, then cutting northward through the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range to Mount Patterson and the Nevada border. The Mojave Desert and the Great Basin Desert are separated from Northern California by mountain ranges in this definition of bioregions. Southern California in the 1850s was a backwater of mainly Spanish-speaking Californios who resented paying state taxes without receiving state projects.
In 1859, as proposed by the Californio politician Andrés Pico, the California State Legislature passed the Pico Act aiming to divide the state and create a new territory in the south. The border started in the west at a latitude of six standard parallels south of Mount Diablo—meaning 144 miles south of Mount Diablo at the latitude of 35°45'N, currently the border between Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. The proposed border bent southward to capture more of the Central Valley, then it angled northeast from Old Tejon Ranch to the California border. The new southern portion was to be called the Territory of Colorado because much of its eastern border was the Colorado River. This legislation was signed by Governor John B. Weller and sent to the United States Congress for ratification, but it never came to a vote. Congress was too divided with tensions which would soon break out into the American Civil War, and despite the efforts of Senator Milton Latham, the bill died. However, the proposed east-west line continued to define one of the views of north–south division of the state.
"Northern California" may refer to the state's northernmost 48 counties, using the line established by the Pico Act, or it may refer to the portion north of the geographic barrier formed by the Transverse Ranges, the Tehachapi Mountains, and the Southern Sierras. Because of California's large size and diverse geography, the state can be subdivided in other ways as well. For example, the Central Valley is a region that is distinct both culturally and topographically from coastal California, though in northern versus southern California divisions, the Sacramento Valley and most of the San Joaquin Valley are usually placed in northern California. Some observers describe three partitions of California, with north and south sections separated by Central California.
Technically, California's exact north–south midway division is around 37°N, near the latitude of Morgan Hill and Chowchilla. The geographic center of California is at near North Fork, northeast of Fresno.
The state is often considered as having an additional division north of the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas. Extreme northern residents have felt under-represented in state government and, in 1941, attempted to form a new state with southwestern Oregon to be called Jefferson, or more recently to introduce legislation to split California into two or three states.

Popular usage

The coastal area north of the Bay Area is often referred to as the North Coast, touching the counties of Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte. The interior region north of Sacramento metropolitan area is referred to by locals as the Northstate, consisting of about 20 counties.
"Northern California" was used by Tim Draper as the name of the northernmost state to be created by splitting California into three new states. The bill, Cal 3, was prevented from appearing on the 2018 California ballot because of a constitutional review by the Supreme Court of California.

Significance

Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the world's economic, scientific, and cultural stages. From the development of gold mining techniques and logging practices in the 19th century that were later adopted around the world, to the development of world-famous and online business models, northern California has been at the forefront of new ways of doing business. In science, advances range from being Berkeley National Laboratory|the first] to isolate and name fourteen transuranic chemical elements, to breakthroughs in microchip technology. Cultural contributions include the works of Ansel Adams, George Lucas, and Clint Eastwood, as well as beatniks, the Summer of Love, winemaking, the cradle of the international environmental movement, and the open, casual workplace first popularized in the Silicon Valley dot-com boom and now widely in use around the world. Other examples of innovation across diverse fields range from Genentech to CrossFit as a pioneer in extreme human fitness and training.
It is also home to one of the largest Air Force Bases on the West Coast, and the largest in California by square meters, Travis Air Force Base.

Cities

Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which consists of 9 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The Bay Area consists of the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and their many suburbs. Although not a part of the Bay Area, in recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities such as Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Turlock and Modesto. These cities in the central part of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills may be viewed as part of a single megalopolis. The 2010 U.S. Census showed that the Bay Area grew at a faster rate than the Greater [Los Angeles Area] while Greater Sacramento had the largest growth rate of any metropolitan area in California.
The state's larger inland cities are considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into two parts. Key cities in the region which are not in major metropolitan areas include Eureka on the far North Coast, Redding, at the northern end of the Central Valley, Chico, and Yuba City in the mid-north of the Central Valley, as well as Fresno and Visalia on the southern end. Though smaller in each case, with the notable exception of Fresno, than the larger cities of the general region, these smaller regional centers are often of historical and economic importance for their respective size, due to their locations, which are primarily rural or otherwise isolated.

History

Prehistory to 1847

Inhabited for millennia by Native Americans, from the Shasta tribe in the north, to the Miwoks in the central coast and Sierra Nevada, to the Yokuts of the southern Central Valley, northern California was among the most densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America.

European explorers

The first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish Crown; in 1542, Cabrillo's expedition sailed perhaps as far north as the Rogue River in today's Oregon. Beginning in 1565, the Spanish Manila galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Spanish Philippines, with silver and gemstones from Mexico. The Manila galleons returned across the northern Pacific, and reached North America usually off the coast of northern California, and then continued south with their Asian trade goods to Mexico.
In 1579, northern California was visited by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of today's San Francisco and claimed the area for England. In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored California's coast as far north as Monterey Bay, where he went ashore. Other Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of northern California for the next 150 years, but no settlements were established.

Spanish era

The first European inhabitants were Spanish missionaries, who built missions along the California coast. The mission at Mission [San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo|Monterey] was first established in 1770, and at San Francisco in 1776. In all, ten missions stretched along the coast from Sonoma to Monterey. In 1786, the French signaled their interest in the northern California area by sending a voyage of exploration to Monterey.
The first twenty years of the 19th century continued the colonization of the northern California coast by Spain. By 1820, Spanish influence extended inland approximately 25 to from the missions. Outside of this zone, perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 Native Americans continued to lead traditional lives. The Adams-Onís Treaty, signed in 1819 between Spain and the young United States, set the northern boundary of the Spanish claims at the 42nd parallel, effectively creating today's northern boundary of northern California.

Russian presence

In 1812, the Russian state-sponsored Russian-American Company established Fort Ross, a fur trading outpost on the coast of today's Sonoma County. Fort Ross was the southernmost Russian settlement, located some north of Spanish colonies in San Francisco. In 1839, the settlement was abandoned due to its inability to meet resource demands, and the increasing Mexican and American presence in the region.

Mexican era

After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico continued Spain's missions and settlements in northern California as well as Spain's territorial claims. The Mexican Californios in these settlements primarily traded cattle hides and tallow with American and European merchant vessels.
File:Trees and sunshine.JPG|thumb|Coast Redwoods in Muir Woods National Monument, in Marin County
In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company established a major trading post just north of today's Portland, Oregon. British fur trappers and hunters then used the Siskiyou Trail to travel throughout northern California. The leader of a further French scientific expedition to northern California, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, wrote in 1840 "...it is evident that California will belong to whatever nation chooses to send there a man-of-war and two hundred men." By the 1830s, a significant number of non-Californios had immigrated to northern California. Chief among these was John Sutter, a European immigrant from Switzerland, who was granted centered on the area of today's Sacramento.

American interest

American trappers began entering northern California in the 1830s. In 1834, American visionary Ewing Young led a herd of horses and mules over the Siskiyou Trail from missions in northern California to British and American settlements in Oregon. Although a small number of American traders and trappers had lived in northern California since the early 1830s, the first organized overland party of American immigrants to arrive in northern California was the Bartleson-Bidwell Party of 1841 via the new California Trail. Also in 1841, an overland exploratory party of the United States Exploring Expedition came down the Siskiyou Trail from the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, the Donner Party earned notoriety as they struggled to enter northern California.

Californian independence and beginning of the United States era

When the Mexican–American War was declared on May 13, 1846, it took almost two months for word to get to California. On June 14, 1846, some 30 non-Mexican settlers, mostly Americans, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. The "Bear Flag Republic" lasted only 26 days, until the U.S. Army, led by John Frémont, took over on July 9. The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag, and continues to contain the words "California Republic."
Commodore John Drake Sloat ordered his naval forces to occupy Yerba Buena on July 7 and within days American forces controlled San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. The treaty ending the Mexican–American War was signed on February 2, 1848, and Mexico formally ceded Alta California to the United States.

Gold Rush and California statehood

The California Gold Rush took place almost exclusively in northern California from 1848 to 1855. It began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet, home to about 1,000 Californios into a boomtown of over 50,000 people in the 12 years between 1848 and 1860. New roads, churches, and schools were built, and new towns sprung up, aided in part by the development of new methods of transportation such as steamships which came into regular service and railroads which now connected the coasts. The Gold Rush also had negative effects: American colonists chose to use genocide as a tool to remove the Indigenous people so that they could look for gold on their land.
The Gold Rush also increased pressure to make California a U.S. state. Pro-slavery politicians initially attempted to permanently divide northern and southern California at 36 degrees, 30 minutes, the line of the Missouri Compromise. But instead, the passing of the Compromise of 1850 enabled California to be admitted to the Union as a free state.

Population and agricultural expansion (1855–1899)

The decades following the Gold Rush brought dramatic expansion to northern California, both in population and economically – particularly in agriculture. The completion of the First transcontinental railroad in 1869, with its terminus in Sacramento, meant that northern California's agricultural produce could now be shipped economically to the rest of the United States. In return, immigrants from the rest of the United States could comfortably come to northern California. A network of railroads spread throughout northern California, and in 1887, a rail link was completed to the Pacific Northwest. Almost all of these railways came under the control of the Southern Pacific Railroad, headquartered in San Francisco, and San Francisco continued as a financial and cultural center.
Substantial tensions during this era included nativist sentiments, tensions between the increasing power of the Southern Pacific Railroad and small farmers, and the beginnings of the labor union movement.

Economy

Northern California's economy is noted for being the de facto world leader in high-tech industry, as well as being known for clean power, biomedical, government, and finance. Other significant industries include tourism, shipping, manufacturing, and agriculture. Its economy is diverse, though more concentrated in high technology. It is home to the state capital, as well as several Western United States regional offices in San Francisco, such as the Federal Reserve and 9th Circuit Court.

Climate

Northern California has a warm or mild to cool climate, in which the Sierra mountains gets snow in the late fall through winter and occasionally into spring. Summers are mild along the coast and generally warm and dry, while winters are cool and usually wet. The high temperatures range from 50s °F to 30s °F in the winters while summers temperature range is 90s °F to 60s °F or 50s °F, with highs well into the 100s °F for the Sacramento region. Snow covers the mountains in mid January through February. Fog occurs infrequently or occurs normally in the west and coast, especially in the summer, creating some of the coolest summer conditions in North America. Since the first decade of the 21st century, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency as a consequence of climate change.

Population

The population of the forty-eight counties of northern California has shown a steady increase over the years.
The largest percentage increase outside the Gold Rush era came during the 1940s, as the region was the destination of many post-War veterans and their families, attracted by the greatly expanding industrial base and by their time stationed in northern California during World War II. The largest absolute increase occurred during the 1980s, attracted by job opportunities in part by the expansion taking place in Silicon Valley and the Cold War–era expansion of the defense industry. Since the 2000 U.S. Census, Northern California has grown at a faster rate than Southern California due to the strong economic performances of the Bay Area and Sacramento.

Parks and other protected areas

National Park System

The U.S. National Park System controls a large and diverse group of parks in northern California. The best known is Yosemite National Park, which is displayed on the reverse side of the California state quarter. Other prominent parks are the Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Park complex, Redwood National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and the largest in the contiguous forty-eight states, Death Valley National Park.

National Monuments and other federally protected areas

Other areas under federal protection include Muir Woods National Monument, Sequoia National Monument">Sequoia National Forest">Sequoia National Monument, Devils Postpile National Monument, Lava Beds National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries. Included within the latter National Marine Sanctuary is the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge; this National Wildlife Refuge is one of approximately twenty-five such refuges in northern California. National forests occupy large sections of northern California, including the Shasta–Trinity, Klamath, Modoc, Lassen, Mendocino, Eldorado, Tahoe, and Sequoia national forests, among others. Included within national forests are federally protected wilderness areas, including the Trinity Alps, Castle Crags, Granite Chief, and Desolation wilderness areas.
In addition, the California Coastal National Monument protects all islets, reefs, and rock outcroppings from the shore of northern California out to a distance of, along the entire northern California coastline. In addition, the National Park Service administers protected areas on Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, and the Smith River National Recreation Area. The NPS also administers the Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, the Rosie the Riveter [World War II Home Front National Historical Park] in Richmond, and the Lake National Monument">Lake County, California">Lake National Monument outside of Tulelake.

Other

Northern California hosts a number of world-renowned universities including Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Top-tier public graduate schools include Boalt Hall and Hastings College of the Law|Hastings] law schools and UC San Francisco and Davis School of Veterinary Medicine">Davis, California">Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the largest veterinary school in the United States.

Public



The following regions are entirely or partly within northern California:
CityPopulation
Alameda78,280
Antioch115,291
Berkeley124,321
Brentwood64,292
Chico101,475
Citrus Heights87,583
Clovis120,124
Concord125,410
Cupertino60,381
Daly City104,901
Davis66,850
Dublin72,589
Elk Grove176,124
Fairfield119,881
Folsom80,454
Fresno542,107
Fremont230,504
Gilroy59,520
Hanford57,990
Hayward162,954
Livermore87,955
Lodi66,348
Madera66,224
Manteca83,498
Merced86,333
Milpitas80,273
Modesto218,464
Mountain View82,376
Napa79,246
Novato53,225
Oakland440,646
Palo Alto68,572
Petaluma59,776
Pittsburg76,416
Pleasanton79,871
Porterville62,623
Rancho Cordova79,332
Redding93,611
Redwood City84,292
Richmond116,448
Rocklin71,601
Roseville147,773
Sacramento524,943
Salinas163,542
San Francisco873,965
San Jose1,013,240
San Leandro91,008
San Mateo105,661
San Rafael61,271
San Ramon84,605
Santa Clara127,647
Santa Cruz62,956
Santa Rosa178,127
South San Francisco66,105
Stockton320,804
Sunnyvale155,805
Tracy93,000
Tulare68,875
Turlock72,740
Union City70,143
Vacaville102,386
Vallejo126,090
Visalia141,384
Walnut Creek70,127
Watsonville52,590
West Sacramento53,915
Woodland61,032
Yuba City70,117

Metropolitan areas

Northern California is home to three of the state's four extended metropolitan areas, which are home to over three-fourths of the region's population as of the 2010 United States census:
Metropolitan regionPopulation
San Francisco Bay Area7,468,390
Greater Sacramento2,461,780
Metropolitan Fresno1,081,315

Major business districts

The following are major central business districts:
See also articles:
See also categories:
There are 11 airports in Northern California categorized as Primary Service Commercial airports by the FAA:
AirportIDCityCategory2018 Enplanements
San Francisco International AirportSFOSan FranciscoLarge Hub27,794,154
San Jose International AirportSJCSan JoseMedium Hub7,037,144
Oakland San Francisco Bay AirportOAKOaklandMedium Hub6,687,963
Sacramento International AirportSMFSacramentoMedium Hub5,907,901
Yosemite International Airport">Yosemite National Park">Yosemite International AirportFATFresnoSmall Hub853,538
Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County AirportSTSSanta RosaNon Hub217,994
Monterey Regional AirportMRYMontereyNon Hub188,046
Stockton Metropolitan AirportSCKStocktonNon Hub99,258
Arcata-Eureka AirportACVArcataNon Hub69,604
Redding Municipal AirportRDDReddingNon Hub42,775
Mammoth Yosemite AirportMMHMammoth LakesNon Hub23,522

Railroad

Interstate highways

Telephone area codes

Major league professional sports teams

SportLeagueTeamVenueCity
BaseballMLBAthletics (baseball) Sutter Health ParkWest Sacramento
BaseballMLBSan Francisco Giants Oracle ParkSan Francisco
BasketballNational [Basketball Association|NBA]Golden State WarriorsChase CenterSan Francisco
BasketballNBASacramento KingsGolden 1 CenterSacramento
American footballNFLSan Francisco 49ersLevi's StadiumSanta Clara
Ice hockeyNHLSan Jose SharksSAP CenterSan Jose
SoccerNWSLBay FCPayPal ParkSan Jose
SoccerMLSSan Jose EarthquakesPayPal ParkSan Jose
BasketballWNBAGolden State ValkyriesChase CenterSan Francisco
CricketMLCSan Francisco UnicornsOakland ColiseumOakland

College sports teams