1.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
San Leandro, California
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San Leandro is a suburban city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The first inhabitants of the region which would eventually become San Leandro were the ancestors of the Ohlone people. The Spanish settlers called these natives Costeños or coast people and the English-speaking settlers called them Costanoans, San Leandro was first visited by Europeans on March 20,1772 by Spanish soldier Captain Pedro Fages and the Spanish Catholic priest Father Crespi. San Leandro is located on the Rancho San Leandro and Rancho San Antonio Mexican land grants, both were located along El Camino Viejo, modern 14th Street / State Route 185. The smaller, Rancho San Leandro, approximately 9,000 acres, was given to José Joaquín Estudillo in 1842, the larger, Rancho San Antonio, approximately 44,000 acres was given to another Spanish soldier Don Luis Maria Peralta in 1820. Beginning in 1855, two of Estudillos sons-in-law, John B, the city has a historic Portuguese population dating from when immigrants from the Azores and laborers from Hawaii began settling in the city in the 1880s and established farms and businesses. By the 1910 census, they had accounted for nearly two-thirds of San Leandros population, in 1856 San Leandro became the county seat of Alameda county, but the county courthouse was destroyed there by the devastating 1868 quake on the Hayward Fault. The county seat was then re-established in the town of Brooklyn, during the Civil War San Leandro and its neighbor, Brooklyn, fielded a California militia company, the Brooklyn Guard. As a result of the covenant, In 1960, the city was almost entirely white, the United States Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, later declared such covenants unenforceable by the state. San Leandro was an 86. 4% white-non Hispanic community according in the 1970 census, the citys demographics began to diversify in the 1980s. By 2010, Asian Americans had become a plurality population in San Leandro, with one third of the population. The San Leandro Hills run above the city to the northeast, in the lower elevations of the city, an upper regionally contained aquifer is located 50 to 100 feet below the surface. At least one deeper aquifer exists approximately 250 feet below the surface, some salt water intrusion has taken place in the San Leandro Cone. Shallow groundwater generally flows to the west, from the foothills toward San Francisco Bay, shallow groundwater is contaminated in many of the locales of the lower elevation of the city. Contamination by gasoline, volatile compounds and some heavy metals has been recorded in a number of these lower elevation areas. The trace of the Hayward Fault passes under Foothill Boulevard in San Leandro, follow the link in the reference to see a series of photos of the fault cutting the asphalt between 1979 and 1987. The 2010 United States Census reported that San Leandro had a population of 84,950, the population density was 5,423.8 people per square mile
4.
Chocolate
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Chocolate /ˈtʃɒklᵻt, -kəlᵻt/ is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of Theobroma cacao seeds, roasted and ground. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of use traces to the Mokaya, with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BCE, the seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted, the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor, the liquor also may be cooled and processed into its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter or added vegetable oils. Milk chocolate is chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, Cocoa solids are a source of flavonoids and alkaloids, such as theobromine, phenethylamine and caffeine. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate, and bars of solid chocolate, Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain Western holidays, such as Easter and Valentines Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages such as milk and hot chocolate and in some alcoholic drinks. Although cocoa originated in the Americas, recent years have seen African nations assuming a role in producing cocoa. Since the 2000s, Western Africa produces almost two-thirds of the worlds cocoa, in 2009, the Salvation Army International Development Department stated that child labor and the human trafficking and slavery of child laborers are used in African cocoa cultivation. The word chocolate entered the English language from Spanish in about 1600, how the word came into Spanish is less certain, and there are competing explanations. The word chocolatl does not occur in central Mexican colonial sources, another derivation comes from the Yucatec Mayan word chokol meaning hot, and the Nahuatl atl meaning water. The Nahuatl term, chicolatl, meaning beaten drink, may derive from the word for the frothing stick, the term chocolate chip was first used in 1940. The term chocolatier, for a chocolate maker, is attested from 1888. Chocolate has been prepared as a drink for all of its history
5.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
6.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
7.
Chocolatier
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A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans, Chocolatiers generally start out as pastry or confectionery chefs. Being a master chocolatier involves perfecting the art of working with chocolate to create not only delicious desserts, generally it takes years of experience and a good background of confections and pastries to master the art of working with chocolate. There are a variety of schools and even specialty chocolate schools, such as the Ecole Chocolate school in Canada. The French Culinary Institute also offers pastry and confectionery courses that are said to help a chocolatier learn the trade, to become a chocolatier one must learn how to make and work with chocolate on different levels to create handcrafted pieces of art that also must taste sensational. Generally schooling consists of learning how to make chocolate from a variety of different origins, once students learn how to make chocolate and begin to understand the physical and chemical aspects of chocolates they can learn to work with chocolate in many different applications. Chocolate is a versatile food thus different courses offer learning about different techniques when working with chocolate, once someone becomes well-educated about all of chocolates applications, or specializes in specific applications of chocolate they may be considered a chocolatier. Often perfecting technical techniques of design and the art of flavor takes many years of practice, advanced studies can lead to a better understanding of the components of chocolate and how to make chocolates along with sculpting and creating beautiful masterpieces from chocolate. Once a chocolatier has mastered the artistry of chocolate they may be considered a Master Chocolatier, the best of the best can be found competing in The World Chocolate Masters, a chocolate competition that started in 2005. These master chocolatiers are some of the best in the world when it comes to designing and sculpting using chocolate and these master chocolatiers also craft pieces of chocolate with outstanding flavor and texture, said to be the best in the world by some. Chocolatiers must be able to work with chocolate in different applications tempering, molding, sculpting. Chocolate can be made into pieces, incorporated into pastries, or simply designed as a piece of art,2007 World Chocolate Masters Winner, Naomi Mizuno Mizuno, from Japan, took home the title to the World Chocolate Masters competition in 2007. The competition was judged in four different categories, including, molded pralines, hand-dipped pralines, gastronomic chocolate dessert, small chocolate showpiece, Mizuno,28 years old, was the youngest competitor ever from his nation. He is employed at a school, Futaba Pastry. A chocolatier must know how to temper chocolate properly for different applications or temper for chocolate for desired characteristics, Chocolate contains cocoa butter which crystallizes during the heat treatment of melting and tempering chocolate. The crystal formation in chocolate can affect many different attributes to the chocolate - mouthfeel, snap of the chocolate, the color, dull or shiny. Heating the chocolate at certain temperatures, around 86-90 °F, for periods of time and then cooling the chocolate and working with. There are machines that can temper chocolate for you, but many chocolatiers use marble slabs and hand-tools to cool the chocolate and work with it
8.
Rapallo
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Rapallo is a municipality in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, northern Italy. As of 2011 it counts 30,742 inhabitants and it is situated on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavari. Many of the villas are built in the hills that rise immediately behind the city, Rapallo area is included in the Parco Naturale Regionale di Portofino, encompassing the territory of six communes. The first settlement dates probably from the 8th century BC, although the findings have not clarified if it was Etruscan or Greek, conquered by the Lombards in 643, the village of Rapallo was included in the county of Genoa under Charlemagne. The name of the city appears for the first time in a document from 964, in 1203 the Podestà of Rapallo was created, and the town became a Genoese dominion in 1229, remaining under that aegis until the Napoleonic Wars. Galleys from Rapallo took part to the famous Battle of Meloria of 1284, on 5 September 1494, it was captured by the Aragonese, but three days later 2,500 Swiss troops ousted them. During the 16th century it was attacked and sacked by the Ottomans, to help defend the village against such attacks a castle was built on the seafront. In 1608 Rapallo was made into a Capitaneato of its own, in the late 18th century it was captured by the French who, after several clashes against Austro-Russian troops, in 1805 annexed it to the Apennins region. In 1814 the English freed it, and the year the city was given to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont as part of the Duchy of Genoa. In late 1917, an Anglo-Franco-Italian conference met at Rapallo following the disastrous Italian defeat at Caporetto and it was decided to create a supreme war council at Versailles and to shift some French and British troops to the Italian front. Italy acquired the strategically important crest of the Julian Alps as its boundary in the northeast, also concluded at Rapallo was the Russian-German Treaty of Rapallo of April 1922, in which both countries renounced claims to war reparations and renewed diplomatic relations. This agreement marked the emergence of Russia and Germany from the isolation caused by World War I. During World War II numerous partisans from Rapallo were shot by German occupation troops, Rapallo has been known for its climate that made it over the years the winter residence of preference for most of the affluent Italians living in the North West of Italy. Its proximity to the coast makes for mild winters where people can enjoy easy strolls on the sunny promenade, the writer Ezra Pound spent much of the late 1920s and 1930s living in the town. The author, caricaturist and parodist Max Beerbohm lived in Rapallo from 1910 until his death in 1956, returning to Britain during World War I, the influential theatre designer and artist Gordon Craig lived in Villa Raggio, next door to Beerbohm, from 1917 to 1928. Rapallo is the setting for most of Elmore Leonards crime novel Pronto, the Castello sul Mare, erected in 1551 to counter the frequent pirate attacks. It includes a chapel dedicated to St. Cajetan, built in 1688. The Castello di Punta Pagana is a seat of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and it was finished on 28 July 1631
9.
Uruguay
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Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in the southeastern region of South America. It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east, with the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. Uruguay is home to an estimated 3.42 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the area of its capital and largest city. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres, Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America, only larger in size than Suriname. Uruguay was inhabited by the Charrúa people for approximately 4000 years before the Portuguese established Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the region, in 1680. Montevideo was founded as a stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a struggle between Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to influence and intervention throughout the 19th century. Modern Uruguay is a constitutional republic, with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government. Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, lack of corruption, e-government, on a per-capita basis, Uruguay contributes more troops to United Nations peace-keeping missions than any other country. It ranks second in the region on economic freedom, income equality, per-capita income, Uruguay is the third-best country on the continent in terms of HDI, GDP growth, innovation and infrastructure. It is regarded as a country by the UN. Uruguay is also the third-best ranked in the world in e-Participation, Uruguay is an important global exporter of combed wool, rice, soybeans, frozen beef, malt and milk. Nearly 95% of Uruguays electricity comes from energy, mostly hydroelectric facilities. The Economist named Uruguay country of the year in 2013, acknowledging the innovative policy of legalizing the production, sale, the name of the namesake river comes from the Spanish pronunciation of the regional Guarani word for it. There are several interpretations, including bird-river, the name could also refer to a river snail called uruguá that was plentiful in the water. The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrúa, the Portuguese discovered the region of present-day Uruguay in 1512. The Spanish arrived in present-day Uruguay in 1516, the indigenous peoples fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited their settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries
10.
Coffee
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Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant. The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa, and Madagascar, the two most commonly grown are the highly regarded arabica, and the less sophisticated but stronger and more hardy robusta. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried, dried coffee seeds are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and brewed with boiling water to produce coffee as a beverage. Coffee is slightly acidic and can have an effect on humans because of its caffeine content. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and it can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways. It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is also served, the earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a way to how it is now prepared. Coffee seeds were first exported from East Africa to Yemen, as the coffea arabica plant is thought to have been indigenous to the former, yemeni traders took coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the seed. By the 16th century, it had reached Persia, Turkey, from there, it spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Coffee is an export commodity, it is the top agricultural export for numerous countries and is among the worlds largest legal agricultural exports. It is one of the most valuable commodities exported by developing countries, green coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Consequently, the markets for fair trade coffee and organic coffee are expanding. The first reference to coffee in the English language is in the form chaona, dated to 1598 and understood to be a misprint of chaoua, equivalent, in the orthography of the time, to chaova. This term and coffee both derive from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, by way of the Italian caffè and it has also been proposed that the source may be the Proto-Central Semitic root q-h-h meaning dark. Alternatively, the word Khat, a plant widely used as stimulant in Yemen and Ethiopia before being supplanted by coffee has been suggested as a possible origin, the expression coffee break was first attested in 1952. The term coffee pot dates from 1705, other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to the ancient chronicle, Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was exiled from Mocha in Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab
11.
California Gold Rush
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The California Gold Rush began on January 24,1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States, the Gold Rush initiated the California Genocide, with 100,000 Native Californians dying between 1848 and 1868. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory to the state of the first nominee for the Republican Party. The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial, whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called forty-niners. The first to hear confirmed information of the rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, and Latin America. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California, in 1849 a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by vote, and the future states interim first governor. In September,1850, California became a state, at the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of staking claims was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, although the mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service, by 1869 railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, Gold worth tens of billions of todays dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with more than they had started with. The Mexican–American War ended on February 3,1848, although California was firmly in American hands before that, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided for, among other things, the formal transfer of Upper California to the United States. The California Gold Rush began at Sutters Mill, near Coloma, on January 24,1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. Marshall brought what he found to John Sutter, and the two tested the metal. However, rumors started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher
