California

 

California, constituent state of the United States of America.

It was admitted as the 31st state of the union on September 9, 1850, and by the early 1960s it was the most populous U.S. state.
No version of the origin of California’s name has been fully accepted, but there is wide support for the contention that it derived from an early 16th-century Spanish novel,

Las sergas de Esplandián (“The Adventures of Esplandián”), that described a paradisiacal island full of gold and precious stones called California.

The influence of the Spanish settlers of the 18th and 19th centuries is evident in California’s architecture and place-names.

The capital is Sacramento.

California is bounded by the U.S. state of Oregon to the north, by the states of Nevada and Arizona to the east, by the Mexican state of Baja California to the south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west.

From the rainy northern coast to the parched Colorado Desert in the south, and from the Mediterranean-like central and southern littoral to the volcanic plateau of the far northeast, California is a land of stunning physical contrasts.

Both the highest and lowest points in the 48 conterminous states are in the state of California—Mount Whitney and Death Valley, respectively.

The former is the culminating summit of the Sierra Nevada, one of the major mountain ranges of North America.