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1542
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo Makes Land Fall
Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo led the first Spanish expedition to the California coast. It was the start of European contact in the region. Briefly, they came in contact then, and in a way typical of the shift that soon was to science from isolation to colonization. Native peoples’ lifeways started to experience external pressures that would continue to accelerate over the coming centuries. -
Expulsion of the Jesuits
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The First Spanish Mission is built in California
This is marked as the official colonization of California by the Spanish -
San Fransico Mission is built
This official signified how the Spanish and their Religious Control now dominated California -
Revolt at Mission San Gabriel
Toypurina, a young Tongva woman who rejected the Spanish colonization and the mission system's erasing of Native cultures, led the 1785 revolt at Mission San Gabriel. She plotted to rise up against the Spanish with other Native leaders. While the uprising ultimately failed, it represented a spirit of resistance by Indigenous peoples and demonstrated a profound discontent with mission life and a loss of cultural autonomy brought about by Spanish rule. -
Measles Out Break
Measles spreads among the natives and kills around 40% of children -
Mexican independence Californian Province
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Influenza OutBreak
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Chumash Revolt
The Chumash Revolt of 1824: This major rebellion against the rule of Spain began at Mission La Purísima and then spread into other missions. Survivors of repression and mistreatme -
Malaria Out Break
With the outbreak in 1832, it would last until about 1834, wiping out large amounts of the population -
Church Control Begins to Fall
With a new power in control, the land that were the California Missions are now annexed and many of the lands are now Rancheros -
Bear Flag Revolt
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Gold Rush Causes Population explosion
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California Joins the USA
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California seceded from Mexico and joined the USA -
Gold Rush Begins
People flock to the San Francisco area for the chance to make it rich -
Foreign minors tax goes into affect
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California becomes a state
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Pacific Railroad act is passed
The 1862 Pacific Railways Act not only permitted construction of the first Transcontinental Railway, but gave land and loans to railway companies like Central Pacific and Union Pacific build it. Its goal was to link East and West, boost trade, and extend US power over the whole continent. This began to bring more people to California -
Transcontinental Railway Completed
With the railway's completion, the West was officially connected to the rest of America. -
Chinese Exclusion Act is passed
1882's Chinese Exclusion Act was the first U.S. law restricting immigration based on race or national origin. It singled out Chinese laborers, prohibiting their entry into the country and preventing citizenship. Racist and economic fears drove this congressional resolution right into Chinese American communities. It stayed in force for over 60 years. -
Lasting Impacts on Native Americans
Around the late 1700s there was 300-350k by 1900 there was a drop too around 20k -
Construction on California Aquaduct begins
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California Aquaduct is finished
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US Immigration Act 1924
Severely limited immigration by establishing national quotas and completely banning immigration from Asia. It reinforced racist immigration policies and drastically reduced new arrivals to California from non-European countries, especially affecting Japanese and other Asian communities. -
Great Depression
The Great Depression had a devastating effect on the economy of California, with one quarter of the labor force unemployed by 1934, industrial production reduced by more than half between 1929 and 1932, and the price of farm products dropping by 60%. Although certain sectors, such as agriculture, grew at the beginning of 1935. Business was a struggle, and several enterprises were forced out of business or cut production. -
Great Depression Migration
The Dust Bowl migration to California includes the Dust Bowl era (1930s) mass migration of people from the Great Plains to California, made possible by the widespread parallel growth of the Western United States at the same time, also incorporating significant numbers of European Americans and a burst of industrial job opportunities. This helped jump California's population -
New Deal Effects
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal transformed California’s economy during the Great Depression. With unemployment peaking at nearly 25% in the state, federal New Deal programs offered relief, jobs, and infrastructure to desperate residents. -
Second Great Migration
Large amounts of African Americans from the South, and Mexicans began to come to California -
US ENTERS WWII
California went from an agricultural state to an industrial juggernaut because of World War II. Because of the state's strategic position on the Pacific Ocean during World War II, the government used curfews and blackouts and interned Japanese American citizens and Japanese immigrant residents. With a ballooning population, the state profited from sending workers to factories and shipyards that produced military equipment. -
Bracero Program
The Bracero Program was a sequence of bilateral agreements between the U.S. and Mexican governments, beginning in 1942, that permitted Mexican workers to legally enter the U.S. to help fill labor shortages in American agriculture during and post-World War II. -
War Manpower Commission
During World War II, the War Manpower Commission (1942) oversaw U.S. labor allocation for military and civilian war efforts. It worked with the draft, directed workers to essential industries, and promoted training and placement programs. The agency was critical to helping avoid a labor shortage, they said, particularly after millions of men entered the military, and ensuring that key economic sectors continued to be staffed to keep the wartime production machine running. -
Executive Order 9066
Issued on February 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced relocation and internment in camps of Japanese Americans during World War II. While not aimed specifically at Japanese Americans, using the order as a basis for involuntary relocation, some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry--including U.S. citizens--were encamped. -
California Economy Jumps
Grew from 2.2 to 3.3 million in employment, which was the highest in the state's history. This was during WWII -
Zoot Suit Riots
From June 3–8, 1943, there were riots in Los Angeles, California, United States. The riots involved American servicemen stationed in Southern California and young Latino and Mexican American city residents. -
Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu v. United States was a critical court case, in 1944. It upheld the government's decision to forcibly relocate Japanese Americans during World War II, despite their US citizenship. The court argued that the internment was justified as a "military necessity" for national security, even though there was no evidence of disloyalty among Japanese Americans. Quite many people had disputed the case before it was brought to the Supreme Court. -
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
Before World War II, the Veterans Administration was a medical and pension program for veterans of past wars. It had major facilities in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, but they were insufficient to provide for the returning GIs. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (the GI Bill of Rights) was passed on June 22, 1944. -
WWII Ends
With the end of WWII, many servicemen, factory workers, and residents returned and remained in California. Thus allowing California's economic nature to continue to rise. -
California Unemployment Jumps
In 1947, after WWII, CA unemployment had jumped up to around 3 million -
Cold War "begins"
California becomes a hub for the military, as well as a place of housing and creation for rockets, and other manufacturing -
Operation Wet Back
Operation Wetback, U.S. immigration law enforcement campaign during the summer of 1954 that resulted in the mass deportation of Mexican nationals — 1,100,000 persons according to U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) figures, though most estimates put the figure closer to 300,000. Written by U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., assisted by the President. Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Formation of the Interstates
The Interstate Highway Act -- the Federal-Aid Highway Act-- was enacted. The Act dictated the establishment of a national interstate highway system, which greatly affected the California highway system by connecting cities and facilitating the travel of middle-class families and commuters between California's major cities. -
California Become the largest Population in the Union
California had jumped to the highest population in the union. Then would grow to 19.95 Million by the 70s -
Free Speech Movement
A major student protest was launched at UC Berkeley in 1964 to secure the right to political expression on campus. Tandemage Inspired by civil rights work in the South, students challenged university restrictions, leading to mass arrests and eventual policy changes. Although only a minority took an active part, the movement had long-term effects across the country It motivated student action and helped decide the successful 1966 campaign of Ronald Reagan for Governor of California -
Bracero Program is Ended
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Watts Riots
The Watts Riots took place in Los Angeles, California, and the Watts district of Los Angeles from August 11 to 17, 1965. The arrest of Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, on suspicion of drunk driving on the evening of Wednesday, August 11, 1965, in South Los Angeles, partly led to the event. -
Hasta Sacramento - Farmworkers march
It was 1966, and the historic "Farmworkers Movement" was in full swing in California. One crucial event was the "Hasta Sacramento" march. This was a group of strikers from Delano marching to Sacramento to publicize their conditions and ask for better treatment. A "hito" was a famous moment in the Civil Rights Movement history, spotlighting largely Latina and Filipino farmworkers' exploitation. -
Indians Control Alcatraz
Native American activists designed the protest to draw attention to US policy. Calling themselves Indians of All Tribes they emphasized broken treaties and the need for Native peoples to have self-determination. The 19-month occupation attracted national attention to indigenous rights, inspiring people to continue working and struggling well into the future. Although eventually taken away, it still lives in the hearts of many as a powerful symbol of resistance and cultural revitalization. -
Civil Liberties Act is passed
The US signed the Civil Liberties Act and officially apologized to Japanese Americans. -
Rodney King Riots
The Rodney King riots, or the 1992 Los Angeles riots, broke out after four LAPD officers were acquitted of brutally beating a Black man, Rodney King, even though a videotape captured the incident. The judgment incited protests nationally in outrage over racial injustice and police brutality. After six days, the extensive burning, looting and violence had left more than 60 dead and an estimated billions of dollars in damages, exposing simmering racial tensions in Los Angeles and the country. -
BLM Protests
The 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in Los Angeles erupted after George Floyd’s murder. Thousands demonstrated, calling for justice, an end to police impunity, and an end to systemic racism. Peaceful marches, culture, and community took over city streets. The protests prompted local reforms, intensified conversations around racial equity, and have been absorbed into a larger national movement for civil rights and social justice.