California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is the most populous U.S. state, with an estimated 2019 population of 39,512,223. California is also the third-largest by area after Alaska and Texas. Sacramento is the capital city while Los Angeles is California’s most populous city and its cultural hub. The Greater Los Angeles Area and San Francisco Bay Area are home to roughly 12 million and 7 million people respectively, making them two of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
The earliest recorded human presence in what would become California was at least 17,000 years ago. The remnants of these long-gone indigenous societies are now scattered throughout northern California, as evidenced by a series of archeological sites called Northern Channel Islands that were discovered in 2009 off Santa Cruz Island. The eight channels comprising this site have yielded evidence for maritime activity dating back some 10 millennia (to 8500 BCE).
Another early culture distinguished itself from earlier groups through its use of basketry. Specifically coiled baskets tightly woven with yucca or willow leaves that could be watertight when cinched shut, a technology that was apparently unknown to earlier peoples along this coast.
As such, it has been suggested that these baskets may have allowed maritime travel between islands in relatively open water during periods when sea level was lower than today (such as during glacial maxima).
The first Europeans to see present-day California were members of an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo up coastal North America in 1542 CE. Sailing northward from Mexico he eventually made landfall somewhere between San Diego Bay and Cape Mendocino.
Although there remains some debate over exactly where his ships reached land, it seems likely they anchored either near Drakes Bay or just south thereof at Bodega Bay, both within modern day Marin County just north of San Francisco.
Cabrillo then continued sailing along this coastline for another 600 miles (970 km) before returning southward to New Spain (Mexico), thus becoming perhaps best known for giving his name to modern day Cape Canaveral in Florida.