California
state, United States
Recent News
Oct. 4, 2024, 12:04 AM ET (AP)
Departures in House create crucial Republican targets in the fight for majority control
Oct. 4, 2024, 12:01 AM ET (AP)
Californians' crime concerns put pressure on criminal justice reform and progressive DAs
Oct. 3, 2024, 8:34 PM ET (AP)
Los Angeles prosecutors to review new evidence in Menendez brothers' 1996 murder conviction
Oct. 3, 2024, 6:05 PM ET (AP)
Two California dairy workers were infected with bird flu, latest human cases in US
Oct. 2, 2024, 2:43 PM ET (AP)
Tribes celebrate the end of the largest dam removal project in US history
California, constituent state of the United States of America. It was admitted as the 31st state of the union on September 9, 1850, and by the early 1960s it was the most populous U.S. state. No version of the origin of California’s name has been fully accepted, but there is wide support for the contention that it derived from an early 16th-century Spanish novel, Las sergas de Esplandián (“The Adventures of Esplandián”), that described a paradisiacal island full of gold and precious stones called California. The influence of the Spanish settlers of the 18th and 19th centuries is evident in ...(100 of 10147 words)