1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer employed by Spain, explored San Diego Bay.
1579 Francis Drake, an English sea captain, sailed along the coast and claimed California for England.

1602 Sebastián Vizcaíno named many landmarks along the coast, and urged that Spain colonize California.
1697 The Spaniards began establishing missions and other settlements in Baja (Lower) California.

1769 Captain Gaspar de Portolá, Governor of Baja California, led an expedition that established the first presidio (military fort) at San Diego. Father Junípero Serra established San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California.
1770 Gaspar established a presidio at Monterey.
1776 A group of Spanish settlers from New Spain (Mexico) reached the site of what is now San Francisco.
1796 The Otter, the first American sailing vessel to reach the coast from the East, appeared in California waters.

1812 Russian fur traders established Fort Ross on the northern California coast.
1821 New Spain won its independence from Spain.
1822 California became part of New Spain.
1826 Jedediah Strong Smith, a trapper, became the first American explorer to reach California by land.
1841 The Bidwell-Bartleson party became the first organized group of American settlers to travel to California by land.
1846 American rebels raised the "Bear" flag of the California Republic over Sonoma. U.S. forces conquered California during the Mexican War.
1848 James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's mill. Mexico gave California to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
1849 The Gold Rush began.

1850, September 9 California became the 31st state.

1869 The Central Pacific, the first railroad across the Sierra Nevada, was completed.

1906 An earthquake and fire destroyed much of San Francisco.
1907 The first commercial film made in California, The Count of Monte Cristo, was completed near Los Angeles.
1915 International expositions at San Diego and San Francisco marked the opening of the Panama Canal.
1945 The United Nations charter was adopted at the San Francisco Conference.

1960 The legislature provided funds for a project to distribute excess water from the northern mountains to coastal cities and southern California.
1963 California became the state with the largest population in the United States.
1964 The nation's first major college demonstration occurred at the University of California, Berkeley.
1965 Rioting broke out in the Watts section of Los Angeles.
1971 An earthquake shook the Los Angeles area, killing 64 people and causing more than $500 million worth of damage.

SEE ALSO
Francis Drake
California's Franciscan Missions
Gaspar de Portolá
San Francisco
Mexican War
Gold Rush
Los Angeles

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This page was last updated on November 11, 2017.