Santa Catalina Island (California)
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U. S. state of California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island is 22 miles long and 8 miles across at its greatest width, the island is located about 22 miles south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is 2,097 feet Mt. Orizaba, Santa Catalina is part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago and lies within Los Angeles County. Catalina was originally settled by Native Americans who called the island Pimugna or Pimu, the first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Over the years, territorial claims to the transferred to Mexico. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy and its total population in the 2010 census was 4,096 people,90 percent of whom live in the islands only incorporated city, Avalon. The second center of population is the village of Two Harbors at the islands isthmus.
Development occurs at the settlements of Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers, the Tongva called the island Pimu or Pimugna and referred to themselves as the Pimugnans or Pimuvit. Archeological evidence shows Pimugnan settlement beginning in 7000 BC, the Pimugnans had settlements all over the island at one time or another, with their biggest villages being at the Isthmus and at present-day Avalon, Shark/Little Harbor, and Emerald Bay. The Pimugnans were renowned for their mining and trade of soapstone which was found in quantities and varieties on the island. This material was in demand and was traded along the California coast. The first European to set foot on the island was the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, on October 7,1542, he claimed the island for Spain and christened it San Salvador after his ship. Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, vizcaino renamed the island in the saints honor.
The colonization of California by the Spanish coincided with the decline of the Pimugnans because of diseases brought by them from Europe. By the 1830s, the entire native population had migrated to the mainland to work in the missions or as ranch hands for the many private land owners. Franciscan friars considered building a mission on Catalina, but abandoned the idea because of the lack of water on the island. While Spain maintained its claim on Catalina Island, foreigners were forbidden to trade with colonies, russian hunters from the Aleutian Islands, and America set up camps on Santa Catalina and the surrounding Channel Islands to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts
Galleon
Another possible origin is the Old French word galie meaning galley, from Byzantine Greek galea. The galea was a warship of the Byzantine navy, and its name may be related to the Greek word galeos, the term was originally given to certain types of war galleys in the Middle Ages. The Annali Genovesi mentions galleons of 80,64 and 60 oars, used for battle and on missions of exploration and it is very likely that the galleons and galliots mentioned in the accounts of the crusades were the same vessels. In the early 16th century, the Venetian galleoni was a new class of galley used to hunt down pirates in the Mediterranean. In Portugal at least, Portuguese carracks were very large ships for their time, while galleons were mostly under 500 tons. One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista, there are disputes about its origins and development but each Atlantic sea power built types suited to its needs, while constantly learning from their rivals. It was the captains of the Spanish navy, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Álvaro de Bazán, the galleon was powered entirely by wind, using sails carried on three or four masts, with a lateen sail continuing to be used on the last masts.
They were used in military and trade applications, most famously in the Spanish treasure fleet, and the Manila Galleons. While carracks played the role in early global explorations, galleons played a part in the 16th and 17th centuries. In fact, galleons were so versatile that a vessel may have been refitted for wartime and peacetime roles several times during its lifespan. The galleon was the prototype of all square-rigged ships with three or more masts for over two and a half centuries, including the full-rigged ship, Galleons were constructed from oak and various hardwoods for hull and decking. The expenses involved in construction were enormous. Hundreds of expert tradesmen worked day and night for months before a galleon was seaworthy, to cover the expense, galleons were often funded by groups of wealthy businessmen who pooled resources for a new ship. Therefore, most galleons were originally consigned for trade, although those captured by rival states were usually put into military service, the most common gun used aboard a galleon was the demi-culverin, although gun sizes up to demi-cannon were possible.
Galleons were a class of blue water sailing ship that combined the easy-to-maneuver fore-and-aft rig of smaller shipping with the rig of late middle ages cargo vessels. On average with three masts, in larger galleons, a fourth mast was added, usually another lateen-rigged mizzen, the oldest known scale drawings in England are in a manuscript called Fragments of Ancient Shipwrightry made in about 1586 by Mathew Baker, a master-shipwright. This manuscript, held at the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, provides a reference for the size. Based on these plans, the Science Museum, London has built a 1,48 scale model ship that is an exemplar of galleons of this era
Oaxaca City
The city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name. It is located in the Centro District in the Central Valleys region of the state and this city relies heavily on tourism, which is based on its large number of colonial-era structures as well as the native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures and archeological sites. It, along with the site of Monte Albán, were named a World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the home of the cultural festival called the Guelaguetza, which features Oaxacan dance from the seven regions, music. It is nicknamed la Verde Antequera due to its prior name, the coat of arms for the municipality bears the image of the decapitated Donaji, who was an indigenous princess in the years immediately after the Conquest. The Aztecs entered the valley in 1440 and named it Huaxyacac, when the Spanish arrived in 1521, the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs were involved in one of their many wars. Spanish conquest would end this fighting, the first Spanish expedition here arrived late in 1521, headed by Captain Francisco de Orozco, and accompanied by 400 Aztecs.
Hernán Cortés sent Francisco de Orozco to Oaxaca because Moctezuma II said that the Aztecs gold came from there, the Spanish expedition under Orozco set about building a Spanish city where the Aztec military post was at the base of the Cerro de Fortín. The first mass was said here by Chaplain Juan Díaz on the bank of the Atoyac River under a large huaje tree and this group of Spaniards chose their first mayor, Gutierres de Badajoc, their first town council and began construction of the cathedral of Oaxaca in 1522. Their name for the settlement was Guajaca, a Hispanization of the Nahuatl name, the establishment of the relatively independent village did not suit Hernán Cortes, who wanted power over the entire region for himself. Cortés sent Pedro de Alvarado, who proceeded to drive out most of the villages population, the original Spanish settlers appealed to the Spanish crown to recognize the village they founded, which it did in 1526, with land divided among the Spaniards of Orozcos expedition.
However, this did not stop Cortés from driving out the population of the once again. Once again, the founders appealed to Spanish royal authority. This viceroy sided with the founders, and the town was refounded in 1529 as Antequera. Francisco de Herrera convened the new, Crown-approved town council, in the meantime, Cortés was able to obtain from the crown the title of the Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, which contains the disputed village. This permitted him to tax the area heavily, and to have control of the territory that surrounded the village, the village was in a position of having to survive surrounded by villages which answered to Cortés. These villages not only did not take orders from Antequera, they were hostile to it, to counter this, the village petitioned the Crown to be elevated to the status of a city, which would give it certain rights and exceptions. It would ensure that the settlement would remain under the control of the king
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there.
Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella.
Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king.
Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
Lateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. Dating back to Roman navigation, the lateen became the sail of the Age of Discovery. It is common in the Mediterranean, the upper Nile River, and the parts of the Indian Ocean. The lateen is used today in a different form on small recreational boats like the Sailfish and Sunfish. The earliest fore-and-aft rig was the spritsail, appearing in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft, one theory is that the lateen sail originated during the early Roman empire in the Mediterranean Sea. It evolved out of the dominant square rig by setting the sails more fore-and-aft – along the line of the keel – rather than athwartship, while tailoring the luff and leech. The theory of Roman origin for lateen was begun with Lynn White, John M. H. Brindley.25 The original passage cited from Caesarus is, according to Brindley, no more than an allusion, ‘tres naves, quas Latenas vocant, plenas tritico direxerunt’.
The assumption is that labelling these three wheat ships ‘latines’ means that they had lateen sails, there is reason to doubt Sottas’s interpretation of Procopius’ claim – that three ships of Justinian’s fleet in 533 deployed lateen sails. That the triangular sails refer to triangular top sails, which were standard gear on Roman square-rigged ships after 50 ad’, White’s claim that the lateen sail was deployed on a European ship in 880 is problematic. We know that the Persians were sailing to India and beyond via the Persian Gulf from the third, and by the mid-seventh century the Muslims were sailing the length of the Indian Ocean. But even if the Romans had invented the lateen sail, it is important to note that after 50 ce there is no evidence of refinement or further development of sails and rigging. Based on this theory, the lateen sail originated in the Near East, most likely in Persia or Arabia and these sailors were likely responsible for introducing the lateen sails and large three-masted merchant vessels to the Mediterranean.
According to the Belgian maritime historian Basch, the earliest true lateen rig appears as early as the 1st century BC, in a Hellenistic wall painting found in a Hypogeum in Alexandria. The earliest archaeologically excavated lateen-rigged ship, the Yassi Ada II, dates to ca.400 AD, the Kelenderis ship mosaic and the Kellia ship graffito from the early 7th century complement the picture. By the 6th century, the lateen sail had largely replaced the square throughout the Mediterranean. It became the standard rig of the Byzantine dromon war galley and was employed by Belisarius flagship in the 532 AD invasion of the Vandal kingdom. This is indicated by the terminology of the lateen among Mediterranean Arabs and it has been suggested that the lateen sail was brought to the Indian Ocean by the Alexandrian merchants who sailed the Red Sea in Roman and Byzantine and Arab times. Such theories have been superseded by unequivocal depictions of lateen-rigged Mediterranean sailing vessels which pre-date the Arab invasion, searches for lateen sails in India were inconclusive
California
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence.
The western portion of Alta California was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, real estate services and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA.
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups were diverse in their organization with bands, villages. Trade and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years English explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
San Miguel Island
For the Portuguese island, see São Miguel Island. San Miguel Island is the westernmost of Californias Channel Islands, located across the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, within Santa Barbara County, San Miguel is the sixth-largest of the eight Channel Islands at 9,325 acres, including offshore islands and rocks. Prince Island,700 m off the northeastern coast, measures 35 acres in area, the island, at its farthest extent, is 8 miles long and 3.7 miles wide. San Miguel Island is part of Channel Islands National Park, and this westernmost Channel Island receives northwesterly winds and severe weather from the open ocean. The cold and nutrient-rich water surrounding the island is home to an array of sea life that is not found on the southern islands. San Miguel Island, together with numerous islets around it, is defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block 3010, Block Group 3, Census Tract 29.10 of Santa Barbara County. Highest peak is San Miguel Hill, at 831 feet, submerged rocks make the nearly 28-mile coastline a mariners nightmare.
San Miguel was occupied by the ancestors of the Chumash people for millennia, who developed a complex and rich maritime culture based on marine fishing, hunting. Rough seas and risky landings did not daunt the Chumash people and they called the island Tuquan in the Chumash language, and for many centuries, they built and used sophisticated canoes, called tomols, made from sewn planks caulked with asphaltum. In tomols, they fished and hunted in island waters and participated in trade with their neighbors on the other islands. Cabrillo died on the island and is thought by many to have been buried there, the last of the island Chumash were removed to mainland missions and towns in the 1820s, leaving San Miguel largely uninhabited until ranchers raised sheep there from 1850 to 1948. One of the families that homesteaded the longest was the Lesters. Later, the United States Navy used the island for a bombing range, the National Park Service maintains two airstrips, a ranger station and a research station on San Miguel Island.
The Island is normally staffed by a ranger who enforces park laws, the island hosts scientists who study pinnipeds and manage the island fox captive breeding program that is conducted on the island. Volunteer interpretive rangers often fill in for regularly paid rangers due to budget deficits within the park. In July,2011, researchers discovered that a loomerie of the California common murre had returned to Prince Island, like penguins, the football-size black-and-white seabirds use their wings to fly deep underwater, but unlike penguins, they fly in the air. This colony disappeared nearly a century ago, likely because of egg harvesting, in the 1960s, northern fur seals successfully recolonized San Miguel Island, making the island the 3rd American breeding colony. The first seals had flipper tags identifying them as being from the Pribilof or Commander Islands in the Bering Sea, today the San Miguel colony numbers around 10,000 animals
Russian River (California)
The Russian River, a southward-flowing river, drains 1,485 square miles of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet, it is the second-largest river flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area. The Russian River springs from the Laughlin Range about 5 mi east of Willits in Mendocino County. It flows generally southward to Redwood Valley, past Calpella, from there the Russian River flows south, past Ukiah and Hopland, and crosses into Sonoma County just north of Cloverdale. Closely paralleled by U. S. Route 101, it descends into the Alexander Valley and it flows south past Cloverdale and Geyserville. East of Healdsburg, Maacama Creek joins the Russian River, after it makes a series of sweeping bends, the Healdsburg Memorial Bridge carries Old Redwood Highway over the river just upstream of U. S. Route 101s Healdsburg crossing. It receives water from Lake Sonoma via Dry Creek, the river turns westward, where it is spanned by the Wohler Bridge, and it is joined by Mark West Creek north of Forestville, followed by Green Valley Creek to the south.
The river passes Rio Nido and Guerneville, in that area, State Route 116 parallels the river, bordering it past Guernewood Park and Monte Rio. Austin Creek enters from the north before the River passes through Duncans Mills, State Route 1 crosses over the river before it flows into the Pacific Ocean between Jenner and Goat Rock Beach. The Russian River estuary is recognized for protection by the California Bays, the mouth is about 60 mi north of the San Francisco Bays Golden Gate bridge. The lower Russian River is a spring, summer. It is very safe at that time for swimming and boating, the river is dangerous in the winter, with swift current and muddy water. The geographer R. S. Holway wrote of the Russian River in his paper The Russian River, the Russian River was one of several rivers draining westward from the Mayacamas Mountains through the Mendocino Plateau to the sea, a region lifted up by tectonic forces. The Navarro River drained from the Cobb Mountain area, while the Russian River drained from the Mt.
St. Helena area, being at a lower elevation, the Russian River began cutting north into the drainage area of the Navarro River. Eroding up a line in Alexander Valley, the Russian River intersected the Navarro River just north of Cloverdale. In one fell swoop, the Russian River took Big Sulphur Creek, the high valleys were eroded into rocky canyons for ten miles north of Cloverdale and for five miles east of Cloverdale. After establishing a connection to Clear Lake, the Russian River was beheaded from Clear Lake by a slide, now Clear Lake flows into the Sacramento River. The river incised a canyon into Fitch Mountain at an early time, the Russian River was prevented from flowing south into San Pablo Bay, due to a 113-foot high ridge at Cotati
Conquistador
Conquistadors /kɒŋˈkɪstəˌdɔːrz/ is a term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania and Asia, conquering territory and they colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa, human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for the first time, from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. The spread of diseases, including smallpox and typhus. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports, by the late 16th century silver imports from America provided one-fifth of Spains total budget. The conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics and their units would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups.
Their armies were composed of Iberian and other European soldiers. Native allied troops were largely equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically. Some groups consisted of men without military experience, Catholic clergy which helped with administrative duties. These native forces often included African slaves and Native Americans and they not only fought in the battlefield but served as interpreters, servants, teachers and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves who worked for the Spaniards, Castilian law prohibited foreigners and non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian, many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve the Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington State in 1592, german-born Nikolaus Federmann, Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia.
The origin of people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by a husband, women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada, Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar. Some conquistadors married Native American women or had illegitimate children, European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, theology, Latin and history, Kings army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become a leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers
Guatemala
With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military.
As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period.
Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Puebla, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes.
The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas.
Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
Santa Barbara County, California
Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is a county located in the southern portion of the state of California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 423,895, the county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barbara County comprises the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, most of the county is part of the California Central Coast. Mainstays of the economy include engineering, resource extraction, agriculture. The software development and tourism industries are important employers in the part of the county. Southern Santa Barbara County is sometimes considered the cultural boundary of Southern California. The Santa Barbara County area, including the Northern Channel Islands, was first settled by Native Americans at least 13,000 years ago, europeans first contacted the Chumash in AD1542, when three Spanish ships under the command of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the area. Spanish ships associated with the Manila Galleon trade probably made emergency stops along the coast during the next 167 years, the first land expedition to explore California, led by Gaspar de Portolà explored the coastal area in 1769, on its way to Monterey Bay.
The party traveled the route on the return to San Diego in January 1770. That same year, an expedition to Monterey again passed through the area. The DeAnza expeditions of 1774-76 followed Portolas trail, the Presidio of Santa Barbara was established in 1782, followed by Mission Santa Barbara in 1786 – both in what is now the city of Santa Barbara. The presidio and mission kept Vizcainos denomination, as did the city and county – a common practice which has preserved the names of many of the 21 California Missions. European contacts had devastating effects on the Chumash people, including a series of epidemics that drastically reduced Chumash population. The Chumash survived and thousands of Chumash descendants still live in the Santa Barbara area or surrounding counties, a tribal homeland was established in 1901, the Santa Ynez Reservation. 604 of these grants were confirmed by the state of California. Santa Barbara County was one of the 27 original counties of California, the countys territory was divided to create Ventura County in 1873.
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 3,789 square miles. Four of the Channel Islands – San Miguel Island, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Rosa Island and they form the largest part of the Channel Islands National Park
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