California has the largest population of any state in the United States. Within it, only 80 miles apart, are the lowest and highest points in the contiguous United States—Death Valley and Mount Whitney. California has ski areas and blistering deserts, mountains and beaches, giant redwoods and giant missiles, Spanish missions and skyscrapers. The oldest living things on earth grow here—a stand of bristlecone pine said to be 4,600 years old. San Francisco, the key city of northern California, is cosmopolitan, beautiful, proud, and old-worldly. Los Angeles, in Southern California, is bright and brazen, growing, and modern. California, with 1,264 miles of coastline and a width of up to 350 miles, does things in a big way.

Almost every crop of the United States grows here. Prunes, oranges, bales of cotton, and tons of vegetables roll out from the factory farms in the fertile valleys. California leads the nation in the production of 75 crop and livestock commodities, including grapes, peaches, apricots, olives, figs, lemons, avocados, walnuts, almonds, rice, plums, prunes, dates, and nectarines. It also leads in the production of dried, canned, and frozen fruits and vegetables, wine, eggs, turkeys, safflower, beeswax, and honey. Homegrown industries include Hollywood movies, television, electronics, aircraft, and missiles.

Spaniards, Mexicans, English, Russians, and others helped write the history of the state. The first explorer to venture into the waters of California was Portuguese—Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542. In 1579, Sir Francis Drake explored the coastal waters and is believed to have landed just northwest of what is now San Francisco. Beginning in 1769, Spanish colonial policy sprinkled a trail of missions around which the first towns developed. The Mexican flag flew over California after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. American settlers later wrenched the colony from Mexico and organized the short-lived Bear Flag Republic. On July 7, 1846, Commodore John D. Sloat raised the United States flag at Monterey. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California became part of what was to be the coastal boundary of the United States in 1848.

Perhaps the most important event in California's history was the discovery of gold in January of 1848, which set off a sudden mass migration that transformed the drowsy, placid countryside and accelerated the opening of the Far West by several decades. The 49ers who came for gold found greater riches in the fertile soil of the valleys and the markets of the young cities.

During and after World War II, California grew at an astounding pace in both industry and population. Jet travel across the Pacific makes the state a gateway to the Orient.