California's Population Growth!


When the United States and Mexico went to war in 1846, California was under the loose control of the Mexican government. California's population consisted of about 6,500 Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican decent), 700 foreigners (primarily Americans), and 150,000 Native Americans, whose numbers had been cut in half since the arrival of the Spanish in 1769. The Californios lived on vast ranches that had been granted by the Mexican government.

The discovery of gold in 1848 brought masses of peoples wanting to get rich quick.


The state's population exploded from 380,000 in 1860 to almost 3.5 million in 1920, largely due to swelling immigration from other parts of the United States as well as Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

(copy and pasted online source)....



Phil