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California

state of the United States of America

57 dated entries naming California, drawn from 53 separate years between 2832 BCE and 2015 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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29th century BC

  • 2832 BCE2832 BC: Estimated germination of the oldest living tree and organism on earth as of 2020 the Methuselah Tree, the second-oldest known organism. Sprouting in what would become Inyo County, California.source

16th century

  • 1542September 28 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo lands in what is now San Diego Bay, and names it "San Miguel", claiming it for the Spanish Empire. San Miguel will later become the city of San Diego. This marks the first time a European sees what is now the U.S. state of California.source
  • 1579June 17 – Francis Drake, during his circumnavigation of the world, lands in modern-day California, which he claims for Queen Elizabeth I. With an English claim here and in Newfoundland, it becomes the basis for English colonial charters which will claim all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from "sea to sea." Drake's claim is called Nova Albion (New England), and subsequent maps will show all lands north of New Spain and New Mexico under this name.source
  • 1595November 7 – Portuguese explorer Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, who had departed from the Philippines on the ship San Agustin on July 5 with cargo of Asian silk, porcelain, and almost 100 passengers and crew, drops anchor at Drakes Bay in what is now the U.S. state of California. He and some of his crew come ashore, where they are greeted by Native Americans. A gale in a few weeks later sinks the San Agustin, killing at least 7 people and ruining the ship's cargo. The crew salvages a launch that they had brought with them.source

18th century

  • 1769May 14 – Charles III of Spain sends Spanish missionaries, who found California missions in San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Monterey, and begin the settlement of California.source
  • 1771September 8 – In California, Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera found Mission Vieja, later called, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, in what becomes San Gabriel, California.source

19th century

  • 1824February 21 – The Chumash Revolt of 1824 begins against the Spanish presence in Alta California (now the U.S. state of California) as an uprising by the Chumash people at Mission Santa Inéssource
  • 1846July 7 – Mexican–American War: Battle of Monterey – Acting on instructions from Washington, D.C., Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the United States annexation of California.source
  • 1847January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California.source
  • 1847January 16 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.source
  • 1848August 19 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).source
  • 1850September 9 – California is admitted as the 31st U.S. state.source
  • 1853July 25 – Outlaw and bandit Joaquin Murrieta is killed in California.source
  • 1855May 3 – American adventurer William Walker and a group of armed mercenaries (filibusters) sail from San Francisco in California south to Central America to attempt to conquer Nicaragua.source
  • 1856January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California.source
  • 1866February 26 – The Calaveras Skull is discovered in California. Purported to be evidence of humans in North America during the Pliocene epoch, it turns out to be a hoax.source
  • 1868March 23 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California, when the Organic Act is signed into California law.source
  • 1876Star Oil Company, predecessor of the global Chevron energy product and sales brand, is founded in California.source
  • 1878June 15 – Eadweard Muybridge produces the first sequence of stop-motion still photographs The Horse in Motion in California (a predecessor of silent film), demonstrating that all four feet of a galloping horse are off the ground at the same time.source
  • 1886Food product and processing brand Del Monte Foods is founded in California, United States.source
  • 1887May 14 – The cornerstone of the new Stanford University, in northern California, is laid (the college opens in 1891).source
  • 1889January 1 – The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada.source
  • 1890October 1 – Yosemite National Park is established in California.source
  • 1891October 1 – Stanford University in California opens its doors.source

20th century

  • 1913July 10 – Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the all-time highest temperature recorded on Earth (although its validity has been challenged, and in 2020 a temperature of 54.4 °C °F was recorded at the same location, which would make it the world's highest verified air temperature, subject to confirmation).source
  • 1915May 22 – Lassen Peak, one of the Cascade Volcanoes in California, erupts, sending an ash plume 30,000 feet in the air, and devastating the nearby area with pyroclastic flows and lahars. It is the only volcano to erupt in the contiguous United States this century, until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.source
  • 1916August 9 – Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.source
  • 1916November 7 – 1916 United States presidential election: Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeats Republican Charles Evans Hughes, when California is called a week after Election Day.source
  • 1923September 8 – Honda Point disaster: Nine United States Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast.source
  • 1925December 12 – The first motel in the world, the Milestone Mo-Tel (later the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo), opens in San Luis Obispo, California.source
  • 1929August 29 – The collides with the oil tanker S.C.T. Dodd off the California coast, causing the San Juan to sink in 3 minutes, killing 77 people.source
  • 1936November 12 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.source
  • 1938March 3 – The Santa Ana River in California, United States, spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County, and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs.source
  • 1939March 28 – American adventurer Richard Halliburton delivers a last message from a Chinese junk, before he disappears on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean. In 1945, some wreckage identified as a rudder, and believed to belong to the junk, washes ashore in San Diego, California.source
  • 1940August 31 – British film stars Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh are married at the San Ysidro Ranch in California.source
  • 1941May 6 – At California's March Field, entertainer Bob Hope performs his first USO Show.source
  • 1948March 17 – The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.source
  • 1951June 15–July 1 – In New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, thousands of acres of forests are destroyed in fires.source
  • 1953August 17 – The first planning session of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Southern California (see October 5).source
  • 1957July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.source
  • 1962September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.source
  • 1965August 11 – Racial rioting in the Los Angeles, California neighborhood of Watts breaks out after an African American motorist, Marquette Frye, is stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. Six days of unrest are quelled by over 14,000 members of the California National Guard. There are 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. It is the largest and costliest urban rebellion of the Civil Rights movement.source
  • 1968December 20 – The first known Zodiac Killer murder takes place in Lake Herman Road, Vallejo, California.source
  • 1969May 20 – United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.source
  • 1976Price Club, as predecessor of Costco, a worldwide membership-registration-only retailer, is founded in California.source
  • 1978September 25 – PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed.source
  • 1980July 16 – Former California Governor and actor Ronald Reagan is nominated for U.S. president, at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit. Influenced by the Religious Right, the convention also drops its long-standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment, dismaying moderate Republicans.source
  • 1980November 4 – 1980 United States presidential election: Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and is elected the 40th President of the United States.source
  • 1984September 5 – STS-41-D: the Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage at Edwards Air Force Base in California.source
  • 1990March 26 – The 62nd Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, with Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture.source
  • 1991December 4 – John Leonard Orr, one of the most prolific serial arsonists of the 20th century, is arrested in California.source
  • 1991October 20 – A large suburban firestorm centered in Oakland Hills, California, kills 25 people and injures 150 others.source
  • 1995Sudden oak death, the tree disease caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is first observed, in California, United States.source
  • 1996August 15 – Bob Dole is nominated for President of the United States, and Jack Kemp for vice president, at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California.source
  • 2000January 31 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 passengers and crew.source

21st century

  • 2011June 22 – Former Winter Hill Gang leader James "Whitey" Bulger is arrested in Santa Monica, California following an anonymous tip.source
  • 2015December 2 – Two gunmen open fire at a workplace in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 before dying themselves in a shootout with police. ISIL claimed responsibility.source

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