PS 3 Topic 1, Part II
Brief California History –
A)
Native American Indian period – major tribes
- ancient times until mid-16th century
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(1) Original Indians immigrated 10,000 years ago
from Asia – crossed the Bering Strait to N.
America and then made their way down to CA.
CA at one time was believed to have about 1/3rd
of the population of all of the United States’
Indian Tribes. There is believed to have been
between 100,000-300,000 Native Americans in CA
before Spain arrived. By 1900, only 16,000 Native
Americans remained. What happened to them?
This all changed when the Spanish empire began
to conquer the “New World” in the name of the
throne. The Spaniards were looking for the
fabled city of El Dorado – the kingdom of gold
B)
Spanish Empire take-over of California
(Mexico, central America and S. America)
1542-1821
(1) 1542 – Juan Cabrillo claimed the Native
American lands now known as San Diego,
for Spain.
(2) This marked the beginning of the end for
most of California’s Native American
population. Over the next 200 hundred
years, Native Americans were either
enslaved, killed by soldiers or died of
disease
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(3) Missions (21 in total) and military
presidios (4) were constructed by the
Spaniards along the El Camino Real, the
King’s highway, all along the CA coast.
Each mission was built a day’s horse ride
away from another mission.
(4) Native American tribes were forced to
work as slaves by the Spaniards.
(5) Spain established four types of
settlements to colonize California
(a) Pueblos – established little towns
which later became known as Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco,
Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and San
Jose, etc.
(b) Missions – Roman Catholic religious
centers which “converted” the
Indians and also served as
vocational schools that taught
various skills and trades such as
farming. 21 missions in all. Missions
were self-sufficient in that they
raised their own food, livestock, etc.
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(c) Presidios – frontier forts usually
located near a pueblo or port.
Armed Spaniards manned these
forts.
(d) Ranchos – private ranches headed
by Spaniards. Spanish empire
granted land grants to anyone who
wanted to settle in California under
Spanish rule and establish a
Rancho.
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(C) Mexican rule 1821-1846
(1) Mexico gained independence from Spain in
1821 and took control of CA.
(2) 1833 – Mexican Secularization Act. Mexico
seized the missions and the surrounding
land. The missions were closed (fear the
Roman Catholic Church would have too
much power) and land was given to
California Indians and wealthy Mexicans
who would establish ranchos. By 1845
there were over 1,000 ranchos in California.
(3) Mexican Californian rule was very unstable
due instability in Mexico.
(D) American rule 1848-present
(1)
U.S. declared war on Mexico in 1846 over a
boundary dispute in Texas.1848 MexicanAmerican war ended in U.S. victory and
California was now under U.S. government
control as a territory. The treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo formally ended the war and gave
California and other land under the Mexican
empire to the United States
(2) 1849 – first California Constitution written
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(3) 1850 – California granted statehood
Chapter 2 California’s Migration History
California is the most ethnically diverse state in
the U.S. These diversity leads to innovation in politics,
the arts, science, culture, economy, in all areas. This
diversity also has lead to racist policies against nonwhite immigrants.
1) Early migration patterns 1848-1960
Northern California
- 1848 Gold discovered in Sutter’s Mill. Once
gold was discovered, people flocked to N.
California and San Francisco became the
biggest city in CA. These migrants came
mainly from the East Coast.
-
Asian immigration to California
-
1848-1882 – Chinese - There was a
huge influx of Chinese from mainland China
(200,000) who worked in the mines,
agriculture, railroad and small businesses.
California encouraged Chinese immigration.
-
1882 Rise in Anti-Chinese racism
lead to Chinese Exclusion Act passed which
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prevented Chinese from immigrating and
encouraged deportation of existing Chinese
-
1890- 1913 Japanese – Japanese
immigration was encouraged especially in
farming
–
1913 - Rise in anti-Japanese sentiment and
racism. Alien Land Act passed - prevented Japanese
or any non U.S. citizen from owning land – thus
discouraging Japanese immigration and all
immigration in general
- Most of these early Asian immigrants settled
in Northern and central California
This pattern of encouraging immigration and then
passing laws against foreign immigrants is prevalent
throughout California’s history.
- Population increase in California mainly
occurred in Northern and Central California
Southern California
- Southern California didn’t see an increase in
population until the early 20th century once
the following events happened:
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Oil boom of 1920’s – CA supplied at
that time 1/4 th of the world’s oil
Hollywood movie industry developed
Aerospace industry developed during
WWII (Lockheed, Hughes, General Dynamics,
Boeing, etc.)
Garment industry developed in LA
area
LA and Long Beach ports developed
1909 – Water brought to S. CA.
California aqueduct project constructed.
Water from the California aqueduct project
brought irrigation (water) to the thirsty S.
California and to Central California from the
north.
By 1930 Los Angeles (1.2 million
people) had double the population of San
Francisco (600,000 people)
- Most immigrants to CA during this time
period were from the rest of the U.S. Foreign
immigrants were from Europe (mainly
Eastern Europe with the exception of the
earlier Asian immigration).
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1960-1990’s
1) 1965 – New amendment to U.S. national
government’s Immigration Act that states that
families can now join legally immigrated
individuals. In the past immigration was based
solely on quotas – each country was allowed a
certain quota of people and once that quota was
met, no more immigrants from that country
could arrive for that year.
Economically disadvantaged Asians and
Latinos took advantage of this new amendment
and flooded into the US – mainly to California.
Most notable change in immigration is that the
majority of foreign immigrants to California
shifted from Europeans to immigrants from
Mexico, Central and Latin American and Asia
(these areas were economically disadvantaged,
Asians were from Taiwan and Vietnam – none
from Mainland China).
Europe had recovered from WWII so many
Europeans were inclined to stay in Europe
rather immigrate to the US, let alone CA.
- San Francisco area has the biggest Chinese
population (from mainland China) in the U.S.
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- San Gabriel Valley, Orange County has the
largest Chinese population from Taiwan in
the U.S.
- Garden Grove/Westminster has the biggest
Vietnamese population in the U.S.
2) Largest Immigrant Metropolitan areas
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco-Oakland
- San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, San
Jose
3) California is now a majority/minority state –
meaning the majority of the population is nonwhite. According to 2015 US Census Bureau
estimates, California's population was
72.9% White (this includes Hispanic-Latino)
-38.8% of the total population is HispanicLatino (of any race) Hispanics are the largest
ethnic group in California.
6.5% Black or African American
14.7% Asian
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1.7% American Indian
0.5% Pacific Islander
3.8% from two or more races
Biggest population growth rate is from Hispanic
and Asian
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Table 1: California Population Percentages by
Race/Ethnicity 1980 and 2010
Race/Ethnicity
Non-Hispanic
White
Hispanic/Latino
Black/African
American
Asian/Pacific
Islander
American Indian
Multirace
1980
66.6
2010
40.1
19.2
7.7
37.6
5.8
5.3
13.1
0.9
*
0.4
2.6
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
What does all of this mean politically?
1) Immigrants and minorities usually settle along
the coastal areas and generally align
themselves with the Democratic Party. As the
immigrant populations along the coast grew,
“white flight” occurred meaning lower income
whites either fled to inland CA or moved to
other states where the cost of living and
housing was lower. Lower income whites are
usually Republican. This is why if you look at a
political county map of California you see that
most of the coastal area is Democrat while most
of the inland area is Republican.
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1990’s
1) California now experiencing a decline in new
immigrants and in population growth in general.
CA in the 1980’s had about 35% of all new
immigrants came to California, now it is only
19%. Why?
- Social factors residence near coethnics has waned
- Economic factors have made other states
more attractive to live. Housing still very
expensive in CA
2) Immigrants are moving out of California to
Arizona, Georgia, Colorado, North Carolina,
Nevada
3) California now becoming a “Gateway state” for
immigrants. This means migrants from other
countries first settle in California but once
assimilated, may then move to another state.
4) Overall, population growth is slowing down in
CA. It was highest population growth rate was
in the early to middle part of the 20th century. At
one time the population growth rate of CA was
65%! In 1990, CA growth rate was 25%, 2000
13%, 2010 10%.
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Essay Questions for Topic 1
1) Explain why California is called a
“Majority/Minority” state. What are the major
minority groups? Which population groups are
growing in number? Which groups are
declining? How does immigration affect
California politically? Where are the
Republicans and Democrats of California
geographically located?
2) Discuss in brief the history of migration to
California and how the change in immigration
laws in 1965 and recovery of Europe, changed
the type of immigrants to California. What
characterizes immigration to the U.S. from the
1990’s on? What are the reasons for this change
in California’s population?
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