California History

Nicolette Collier

2009-2010Fourth grade

Desert Region

The desert gets less than 10 in of rain. The desert is very hot and it could get up to 120F in the day and at night it gets to 49C.

Coast Region

The coast region has a lot of rich soil and water. There is a lot of farming there too. A lot of people live their because people are attracted to the coast.

Valley Region

The Valley is well suited because it has rich soil and water. Also it is good for farming and has lots of cows. The Central Valley is divided into the San Joaquin Valley in the North.

Mountain Region

The mountain provides many jobs. It also has fishing industry supplies fresh fish to restaurants. It has mild summers and cold winters. The major cities are Ridgecrest and Tahoe.

Sir Frances Drake

Drake left on a village to sail around the world with five ships in 1577. Drake attacked Spanish ships and captured their shipments of treasure.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451. He was born in Genoa, Italy. His name in Italian was Cristofro Colombo. Columbus was the eldest boy of five children. His father was a wool weaver.

Hernando Cortes

Cortes, along with six hundred men, twenty horses, and ten small canyons, conquered the Aztec impire of five million people. Cortes was a bad conquerer. It took two years to conquer Mexico.

James Cook

Cook was a smart and student growing up in Britian. He became an apprentice to both a store owner and a shipowner as a young man. An apprentice is someone who learns a skill and give it to someone else.

Gasper de Portola

In 1767 Spain sent a soldier named Gasper de Portla to run it's California colony. A colony is a settlement of people who come from one country to live in another land.

Bautista de Anza

Later in 1775 Anza led an expedition of Hundreds of Spanish settlers. They settle in the area that is now San Francisco. He was born in Fronteras, Sonora into a military family on the northern frontier.

Father Serra

Serra started the mission at San Diego in 1769. Serra kept a journal about the trip. When Serra was a young man in Majorca, Spain, he decided to become a Franciscan priest in the Catholic Church.

Rancho's

A rancho is a ranch and a land grant. Their also large areas of land where crops are grown and horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs were raised. Over time rancho's replaced missions as the center of the area's economy.

Missions

A mission was set up for a religious purpose. Many California Indians worked on missions. The men farmed and cared for the animals. The woman cooked, sewed, gardened, and made candles and soap.

Presidio

A presidio is a Spanish word for fort. A mission is home to soldiers who defended the missions as well as an Spanish settlers living in the area.

John Sutter

John Sutter was from Switzerland. John Sutter was a pioneer. He had a fort built and it was named after him in 1841.

Ivan Kuskov

Ivan Kuskov led a group of Russian and native Alaskan furr trappers to a place north of San Francisco. He killed sea otters to have lunch or dinner. He also tried to farm the land, but it was unsuccessful.

Fort Ross

Fort Ross was established because it was for a trading post. You could now visit it. Ivan Kuskov built Fort Ross.

Smith

He lead a group of Americans overland from the east to California, by way of the Utah and Mojave Deserts in 1826. He also crossed back through the Sierra Nevada to the Great Salt Lake.

Beckwourth

He lead settlers through a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada that was later named for him. He was an African- American scout, guide, who led settlers west during the 1850's.

Bidwell

He leaves Independence, Missouri, for California in 1841. He was the first wagon train settler to come here from Independence, Missouri.

Fremont

He made accurate maps of the West for the U. S. government and pioneers. He also lead U. S. troops in California's Bear Flag Revolt.

49er's

They often lived in tents in mining camps. Life as a miner was very, very, very hard. They got tricked by gold and fools good. They found a mother load. A mother load is a lot of gold.

Brannan

He ran through the streets of San Francisco to tell everybody that he found gold. He thought if he said that they'll buy gold from him. He became very rich after that.

Strauss

He was an entrepreneur. He saw that miners needed tough work pants, so Strauss made very tough pants. People still wear pants that has a symbol that says, 'Levi Strauss'.

Biddy Mason

She petitioned to become a free women. Her family and her worked for a fair treatment of Asian Americans. She was also Bridget. She was born into slavery in about 1818.

Tape

In the 1800's a Chinese immigrant who lived in San Francisco. She was upset because her daughter couldn't go to attend public school. Finally, her daughter got to go to a public school.

Mexican- American War

The Mexican American War began in 1846. It ended in 1848. America won the war. California became of The United States. Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Nicolette Collier

I am in 4th grade and my teacher is Mr. G. He is very funny. I play soccer and I act. I have been in tv shows including Gilmore Girls, Graysonatomy, Ghost Whisper, 12 Miles of Bad Road, Big Shots, and Desperate Housewives.