pansypoo's personal rant page.

RANDOM ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA POST

CALICO PRINTING- blah blah blah, but illustration of a cylinder printing machine-6 colors and looks a lot like an inkjet printer! 8+ pages.

CALIFORNIA-name from a spanish romance novel( las serges de esplandian) in which author wrote of "the great island of california, where a great abundance of gold and prescious stones is found". pub in 1510 and very popular: at 1st just for coast(baja?) and then all. the peninsula 'lower' california.
1st 'discovery' made in 1534, by expedition sent out by cortez and consisting of 2 ships, commanded by Mendoza and Grijalva. baja 1st. then the gulf. navigated and explored by cortez and for awhile gulf called Mar de Cortez, then El Mar Vermejo. 1540 mouth of colorado river 'discovered' by alarcon, commander of fleet sent by cabrilla as far north as Cape mendocino 40º 30'. 1578, sir francin drake entered the pacific and reached N as far as 48º. dispute if he 'found' or not San Francisco harbour. 1602 bays of san diego and monteray 'discovered' by Visgaino, but 150 year before again visited and settlements begun. 1697 baja or lower CA mission by jesuits til 1667, when expelled by Charles III of spain and property given to franciscans and they left to upper CA, til Mexico became independent in 1822. this was a death blow to the franciscans which lost ground yr after yr and done in 1840. did little to improve the natives(typical). 21 missions. 1st in 1769. last in 1820. all near san francisco. number of natives rapidly declined. 100,000 in 1823. in 1863 only 29,000.
trade between east and west more than w/ mexico. boston had a monopoly. most groceries and cotton. english and americans trickled in from 1810-1830. an early settler-john a sutter. gold discoverer.
1842. commodore Jones; captured fort monteray. raised american flag and took possession of the country for the US. next day took flag down and apologized for the mistake, but US now looking at CA. the complete story of how CA was seized in unknown, but DC considering war on mexico and desiring the US to reach the pacific. so after the war, CA went to US. freemont doing science expedition on the pacific coast in may 1846 received verbal instructions, freemont turned back, went to sutter's fort and then sonoma, where assembled a militia and on july5, declared independence from mex. US invades CA. blah blah blah lots of military squabble. freemont court martialed and guilty of mutiny, but close to elected president of CA. settled in 1847 and 1848 treaty ratified by US and mex. GOLD RUSH! admitted to US 1850-anti-slave state, but not baja CA. blah blah blah
the chinese element is a peculiar and interesting feature. by the last census, 49,310 chinese in the state. great #s in san fran. much rascism when in missions.