TIMELINE

1 | 2 Timeline (Page 1)

1500's - 1600's

• (1533) Two ships landed at Baja in La Paz Harbor, local residents killed 20 and ships retreated
• (1535) Hernando Cortes led expedition to La Paz, established small colony
• (1540) Sea expedition led by Hernando de Alarcon up Gulf of California to mouth of Colorado River, became first Europeans on California soil
• (1542) Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to explore California, landed at San Diego, discovered Catalina Islands, sites of San Pedro and Santa Monica and Santa Barbara Channel Islands
• (1579) Sir Francis Drake landed north of San Francisco Bay, claimed the territory for England
• (1669) Gaspar de Portolb, governor of the Californias, led an expedition up the Pacific coast, established California's first mission on San Diego Bay

1700's

• (1769) Sargeant Jose Ortega discovered entrance to San Francisco Bay
• (1776) Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores founded

1800's

• (1812) Russian fur traders established Fort Ross
• (1812) Mexico won independence from Spain, became California's new ruler
• (1826) Native Americans attacked Mission San Francisco Solano
• (1848) Gold discovered at Sutter's sawmill in Coloma
• (1849) California Gold Rush began; California became U. S. property with Treaty of Guadalupe
• (1849) Fire devastated San Francisco
• (1850) California became 31st state
• (1869) First westbound train arrived in San Francisco
• (1882) Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring all Chinese immigration

Timeline continued...