San Francisco is a major city in California, the centrepiece of the Bay Area, well-known for its liberal community, hilly terrain, Victorian architecture, scenic beauty - and summer fog.
San Francisco is located on a small seven-by-seven mile square of land at the tip of a peninsula between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific coast. It has a population of almost 800,000, but is the centre of a metropolitan area of millions of people. San Francisco is just one of the cities which makes-up the entire San Francisco Bay Area.San Francisco is a major city in California, the centrepiece of the Bay Area, well-known for its liberal community, hilly terrain, Victorian architecture, scenic beauty.
Prior to European settlement in the area, San Francisco was home to the Yelamu tribe, who were part of the larger Ohlone language group which stretched south from the Bay Area to the Big Sur of California. Due to San Francisco's characteristic foggy weather, the earliest European explorers completely bypassed the Golden Gate and the San Francisco Bay.
The first European settlement in the area was founded by the Spaniards in 1776 as a mission community surrounding the Mission San Francisco de Asís, in what is today called the Mission Dolores in the Mission District. In addition to the mission, a military fort was built near the Golden Gate: the Presidio.
Upon gaining independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. In 1835, an Englishman named William Richardson founded the town of Yerba Buena, the first significant settlement on the peninsula outside of the Mission Dolores area. As the new settlement gradually grew, Yerba Buena developed a street plan and became attractive to settlers.
In 1846, the United States claimed California and in July of that year the U.S. Navy arrived to raise the America flag above Yerba Buena. Over the next couple of years, California officially became part of the United States following the Mexican-American War and the name of the town was changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco.
With the California Gold Rush of 1848, San Francisco began to explode in population. Waves of immigrants came to the city to seek their fortunes, including large amounts of Chinese immigrants who would create one of the largest populations of Chinese outside of Asia. During this time, many major businesses were created and flourished in San Francisco and famous (and infamous) personalities settled in the city. Of course, with all this success came many problems: the rapid growth of the city outstripped any efforts at city planning, meaning proper sanitation and infrastructure were largely undeveloped, which lead to a cholera outbreak in 1855. Violence and corruption were evident, and anti-immigrant violence resulted in many race riots.
In the 1890's, there was a large campaign to modernize and beautify the city, leading some officials to proudly call San Francisco the "Paris of the West". But in 1906, a devastating earthquake and a resulting fire levelled much of the city. Nevertheless, officials at the time immediately set out on a plan to rebuild the city, with new parks, boulevards, the current civic centre complex, and landmarks such as the Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill.
In the wake of the Great Depression of the 1930's, San Francisco remained largely unscathed. In fact, it was during this time that the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge were conceived and built. It was also during this time that the Federal Government established a prison on Alcatraz Island, which would hold some of the most notorious criminals of the era.
After World War II, San Francisco continued to grow in population. Urban planning projects at the time led to more highrise buildings down town (including the Transamerican Pyramid) and the destruction of neighbourhoods to build freeways (many of which were later torn down after the 1989 earthquake). In the same period, San Francisco became a centre of counterculture and the hippie movement, contributing to San Francisco's liberal outlook. San Francisco also became a centre for homosexuals during this time, leading to the development of Gay neighbourhoods like the Castro.
Today San Francisco is known for its liberal outlook and remains one of America's top tourist destinations, which is the city's largest industry.
San Francisco has a mild climate, with wet, mild winters and dry summers. In most months, you can expect the temperature be in the 60s or 70s degrees Fahrenheit (between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius). Be prepared for cool humid weather, even in the summer (except September), when persistent fog often envelops the city.
Text from Wikitravel San Francisco where additional general information can be found. Please share your knowledge by editing the pages of Wikitravel.
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