Timeline of California History

Timelines of significant events in history of California.

20,000-10,000 BC
Approximate period when indigenous people began living in California

1542
Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo of Spain arrived in the California areas known today as San Diego, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Catalina Island, and the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara.

1579
Sir Francis Drake of England raided Spanish settlements in California and claimed California for England.

1769
A group of Franciscan priests from Spain founded San Diego De Alcala, the first of twenty-one coastal missions to be built in California along the El Camino Real Trail. Also in 1769, explorer Gaspar de Portola established Spanish settlements in San Diego, San Francisco, and at Monterey Bay.

1821
Mexico, which included California at the time, achieved independence from Spain.

1846
An incident known as the "Bear Flag Revolt" won independence for a small area of California for about one week, after which time the United States Army squashed the revolt. The California state flag of today is based on the flag used during that revolt.

1848
California became a territory of the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War.

1848-1849
James Martial discovered gold at Sutter's Sawmill in January of 1948, a discovery that caused the California Goldrush of 1949 to begin.

1850
California became the 31st state in the United States on September 9, 1850.

1860
The Pony Express mail delivery service was established, improving California's community with the mid-west United States.

1869
A transcontinental railroad system opened in the United States.

1906
The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 caused fires that nearly destroyed the city.

1910
The first movie was filmed in Hollywood, California. It was a silent movie about California's Mexican era that was directed by D. W. Griffith that was called "In Old California".

1933
Immigrants fleeing from the Midwestern United States "Dust Bowl" began arriving in California. Many of them worked on farms in California's central valley and central coast region and loathers worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps.

1939
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto garage.

1967
A movement known as the "Summer of Love" caused a counter-culture group commonly called "hippies" to settle in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District.

1976
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack released the Apple I computer on April Fool’s Day.

1989
The Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area causing the collapse of San Francisco's Bay Bridge.

See also
History of California
More About California
California Travel Guide