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The Californias Las Californias
Region of North America
Country	Mexico United States
U.S. state	California
Mexican states	Baja California Baja California Sur
Principal cities	List Los Angeles, CA San Diego, CA San Jose, CA San Francisco, CA Tijuana, BC Mexicali, BC La Paz, BCS Los Cabos, BCS
Area
• Total	569,329 km (219,819 sq mi)
Population
• Total	43,636,740
• Density	77/km (200/sq mi)
Time zones	UTC-8 (Pacific Standard Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time)
	UTC-7 (Mountain Standard Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-6 (Mountain Daylight Time)

The Californias (Spanish: Las Californias), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Historically, the term Californias was used to define the vast northwestern region of Spanish America, as the Province of the Californias (Spanish: Provincia de las Californias), and later as a collective term for Alta California and the Baja California peninsula.

Originally a single, vast entity within the Spanish Empire, administration was split into Baja California (Lower California) and Alta California (Upper California) following the Mexican War of Independence. As a part of the Mexican–American War (1846–48), the Conquest of California saw the vast Alta California territory ceded from Mexico to the United States. The populated coastal region of the territory was admitted into the Union in 1850 as the State of California, while the vast, sparsely populated interior region would only later gain statehood as Nevada, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, and Colorado.

Today, Californias is a collective term to refer to the American and Mexican states bearing the name California, which share geography, history, cultures, and strong economic ties.

Etymology

There has been understandable confusion about use of the plural Californias by Spanish colonial authorities. California historian Theodore Hittell offered the following explanation:

In very early times, while the country was supposed to be an island or rather several islands, it was commonly known by the plural appellation of "Las Californias" (The Californias). Afterwards, when its peninsular character was ascertained, it was called simply California; but the territory so designated was unlimited in extent. When the expeditions for the settlement of San Diego and Monterey marched, it was understood that they were going, not out of California, but into a new part of it. The peninsula then began to be generally spoken of as Antigua or Old California and the unlimited remainder as Nueva or New California, subsequently more commonly called Alta or Upper California. At the same time the old plural name of The Californias was revived, but with a more definite signification than before.

History

The first attempted Spanish occupation of California was by the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino, in 1683. His Misión San Bruno failed, however, and it was not until 1697 that Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó was successfully established by another Jesuit, Juan María de Salvatierra. The mission became the nucleus of Loreto, first permanent settlement and first administrative center of the province. The Jesuits went on to found a total of 18 missions in the lower two-thirds of the Baja California Peninsula.

Province of New Spain

In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from the missions, and Franciscans were brought in to take over. Gaspar de Portolá was appointed governor to supervise the transition. At the same time, a new visitador, José de Gálvez, was dispatched from Spain with authority to organize and expand the fledgling province.

The more ambitious province name, Las Californias, was established by a joint dispatch to the King from Viceroy de Croix and visitador José de Gálvez, dated January 28, 1768. Gálvez sought to make a distinction between the Antigua ('old') area of established settlement and the Nueva ('new') unexplored areas to the north. At that time, almost the only explored and settled areas of the province were around the former Jesuit missions but, once exploration and settlement of the northern frontier began in earnest, the geographical designations Alta ('upper') and Baja ('lower') gained favor.

The single province was divided in 1804, into Alta California province and Baja California province. By the time of the 1804 split, the Alta province had expanded to include coastal areas as far north as what is now the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Expansion came through exploration and colonization expeditions led by Portolá (1769), his successor Pedro Fages (1770), Juan Bautista de Anza (1774–76), the Franciscan missionaries and others. Independent Mexico retained the division but demoted the former provinces to territories, due to populations too small for statehood.

Department of Mexico

Department of the CaliforniasDepartamento de las Californias
Department of Centralist Republic of Mexico
1836–1847
Capital	Loreto, Ensenada, Pueblo de Los Angeles, & Monterey
Demonym	Californio
History
• Established	1836
• Disestablished	1847
Preceded by Succeeded by Alta California Baja California Territory California Republic Mexican Cession Baja California Territory
Today part of	California Baja California Baja California Sur Nevada Arizona Utah Wyoming

In 1836, the designation Las Californias was revived, reuniting Alta and Baja California into a single departamento (department) as part of the conservative government reforms codified in the Siete Leyes (Seven Laws). The Seven Laws were repealed in 1847, during the Mexican–American War, and the split of the two Californias was restored.

The Californias after 1848

Following Mexico's defeat in the war, most of the former Alta California territory was ceded on 2 February 1848 to the United States, under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The new Mexico–United States border was established slightly to the north of the previous Alta-Baja border, and the terms Las Californias and Alta California were no longer formally used. The areas acquired by the U.S. remained under military authority, pending creation of civilian government through territorial designation and/or statehood.

Baja California in Mexico was established as the Baja California Territory after the War. It was split by the Congress into Northern and Southern territories. Seven new U.S. states were created entirely or partly from land formerly included in The Californias.

1850. California became the 31st of the United States.
1853. The Gadsden Purchase transferred addition territory from Mexico to the United States.
1853. William Walker led a force that attempted to capture the Baja California Territory and Sonora to create an independent Republic of Sonora. Walker was defeated by Mexican forces led by Antonio Meléndrez.
1864. Nevada became the 36th of the United States.
1876. Colorado became the 38th of the United States.
1890. Wyoming became the 44th of the United States.
1896. Utah became the 45th of the United States.
1912. New Mexico became the 47th of the United States.
1912. Arizona became the 48th of the United States.
1931. Baja California Territory was divided into the Territory of Baja California Norte and the Territory of Baja California Sur.
1952. The Territory of Baja California Norte became the 29th State of Mexico as Baja California.
1984. Baja California Sur became a Mexican state.

Geography

The Baja California Peninsula is bordered on three sides by water, the Pacific Ocean (south and west) and Gulf of California (east); while Alta California had the Pacific Ocean on the west and deserts on the east. A northern boundary was established by the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819. That boundary line remains the northern boundary of the U.S. states of California, Nevada, and the western part of Utah.

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in the Californias Source:
	Rank		Metro Area	Pop.
Los Angeles Tijuana	1	Los Angeles	Greater Los Angeles	3,898,747	San Diego San Jose
	2	Tijuana	San Diego–Tijuana	1,810,645
	3	San Diego	San Diego–Tijuana	1,386,932
	4	San Jose	San Francisco Bay Area	1,013,240
	5	San Francisco	San Francisco Bay Area	873,965
	6	Mexicali	Calexico–Mexicali	854,186
	7	Fresno	Metropolitan Fresno	542,107
	8	Sacramento	Greater Sacramento	524,943
	9	Long Beach	Greater Los Angeles	466,742
	10	Oakland	San Francisco Bay Area	440,646

Territorial evolution

Inland regions were mostly unexplored by the Spanish, leaving them generally outside the control of the colonial authorities. Mountain ranges of the Peninsular Ranges, eastern Transverse Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada, along with the arid Colorado Desert, Mojave Desert, and Great Basin Desert in their eastern rain shadows, served as natural barriers to Spanish settlement. The eastern border of upper Las Californias was never officially defined under either Spanish or subsequent Mexican rule. The 1781 Instrucciones and government correspondence described Alta California ("Upper California") as the areas to the west of the Sierra Nevada and the lower part of the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley (the river forms the present day border between the states of California and Arizona).

Territorial Evolution of Las Californias

Initial Spanish Colonialization (1767–1804)	Late Spanish Colonial Period – First Mexican Republic (1804–1835)	Centralist Republic of Mexico (1837–1847)	After Mexican–American War	Territory prior to statehood	Statehood
Provincia de las Californias	Territorio de Baja California	Departamento de las Californias California Republic (1846)	Territorio de Baja California (1824–1931) (with land transferred from Alta California) Departamento de California (1863–1865)	Baja California Sur (1931–1974)	Baja California Sur (1974)
				Territorio Norte de Baja California (1931–1952)	Baja California (1952)
	Territorio de Alta California		Mexican Cession (1848–1850)	California (1850)
				Nevada Territory (1861–1864) Utah Territory (1850–1864) New Mexico Territory (1850–1864)	Nevada (1864)
				Utah Territory (1850–1896)	Utah (1896)
				New Mexico Territory (1850–1866) Arizona Territory (1863–1912)	(Northern) Arizona (1912)
				Utah Territory (1850–1868) Wyoming Territory (1868–1890)	(Southwestern) Wyoming (1890)

See also

• Spanish missions in Baja California
• Spanish missions in California
• Indigenous peoples of California
  • Population of Native California
  • Indigenous peoples of Baja California
• Ranchos of California
• History of California
  • History of California through 1899
  • Territorial evolution of California
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• The Canadas
• The Carolinas
• The Dakotas
• The Floridas
• The Virginias

References

1. "Wilson Center – Institute of the Three Californias" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2018-03-18.
2. "Freemasons of California: Conference of the Three Californias". Archived from the original on 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2018-03-18.
3. Torrans, Thomas (2002). The Magic Curtain: the Mexican-American Border in Fiction, Film, and Song. TCU Press. ISBN 978-0-87565-257-3.
4. Assembly, California Legislature (1942). Journal of the Assembly, Legislature of the State of California.
5. Mathes, Michael (1965). "The Two Californias during World War II". California Historical Society Quarterly. 44 (4): 323–331. doi:10.2307/25155757. ISSN 0008-1175. JSTOR 25155757.
6. Two California, Three Religious Orders, and Fifty Missions
7. Staff, Liberation. "Two Californias meet at the border to demand justice for farm workers – Liberation News". Retrieved 2023-03-18.
8. "Missions of the Californias". CA State Parks. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
9. "Lieutenant-Governor of California: Commission of the Californias". Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2018-03-18.
10. Geiger, Maynard (April 1952). "The Arrival of the Franciscans in the Californias-1768–1769". The Americas. 8 (2): 209–218. doi:10.2307/978302. ISSN 0003-1615. JSTOR 978302. S2CID 146950170.
11. "Video: Is this the first or last beach in the Californias?". Los Angeles Times. 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
12. Farnham, Thomas Jefferson (1844). Travels in the Californias, and scenes in the Pacific Ocean. University of California Libraries. New York : Saxton & Miles.
13. School, Stanford Law. "The Case of the Pious Fund of the Californias. United States of America Vs. Republic of Mexico. Replication of the United States of America to the Answer of the Republic of Mexico". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
14. MexicoMatters – Economy of the Three Californias
15. LA Times – What the Baja Boom Means for Our State
16. Hittell, Theodore Henry (1898). History of California. San Francisco: N.J. Stone & Company. p. 510. OCLC 21706930. las californias.
17. Richman, I. B. (1965). California under Spain and Mexico, 1535–1847: A contribution toward the history of the Pacific coast of the United States, based on original sources, chiefly manuscript, in the Spanish and Mexican Archives and other repositories, pp.64–66. New York: Cooper Square Publishers.
18. Bancroft, H. H. (1970). History of California: Vol. II, 1801–1824, pp.20–21. Santa Barbara Calif.: Wallace Hebberd. (Note: Bancroft translated the names of the two new provinces as "Antigua" and "Nueva", but Richman uses Baja and Alta – as on the 1847 map of Mexico.)
19. Municipal, Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo. "Hace 44 años Quintana Roo y Baja California Sur fueron elevados a la categoría de estados". gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-02.
20. "Census QuickFacts: California". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
21. "SCITEL". INEGI. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
22. José Bandini, in a note to Governor Echeandía or to his son Juan Bandini, a member of the Territorial Deputation (legislature), noted that Alta California was bounded "on the east, where the Government has not yet established the borderline, by either the Colorado River or the great Sierra (Sierra Nevada Range)". A Description of California in 1828 by José Bandini (Berkeley, Friends of the Bancroft Library, 1951), 3. Reprinted in Mexican California (New York, Arno Press, 1976). ISBN 0-405-09538-4
23. Chapman, Charles Edward (1973) . The Founding of Spanish California: The Northwestward Expansion of New Spain, 1687–1783. New York: Octagon Books. p. xiii.

Further reading

• Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1884). History of California: 1542–1800. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. 18. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company.
• Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1886). History of California: 1801–1824. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. 19. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company.
• Beebe, Rose Marie (2001). Lands of Promise and Despair: Chronicles of Early California, 1535–1846. Berkeley: Heyday Books. ISBN 1-890771-48-1.
• Bouvier, Virginia Marie (2001). Women and the Conquest of California, 1542–1840: Codes of Silence. Tucson: University of Arizona. ISBN 978-0-8165-2446-4.
• Chapman, Charles E. (1916). The Founding of Spanish California: The Northwestward Expansion of New Spain, 1687–1783. New York: Macmillan.
• Chapman, Charles E. (1921). A History of California: The Spanish Period. New York: Macmillan.
• Forbes, Alexander (1919) . California: A History of Upper and Lower California from Their First Discovery to the Present Time. San Francisco: Thomas C. Russell.
• González Cruz, Edith; Altable, María Eugenia, eds. (2003). Historia general de Baja California Sur: Los procesos políticos. Vol. 2. Mexico City: Plaza y Valdes. ISBN 970-722-199-2.
• María Luisa Rodríguez-Sala; Karina Neria (2003). Los gobernadores de las Californias, 1767–1804: contribuciones a la expansión territorial y del conocimiento (in Spanish). Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM. ISBN 978-9-703-20277-5.

External links

• Worldstatesmen.org: Provinces of New Spain

• States and territories established in 1836
• States and territories disestablished in 1847
• The Californias
• Regions of North America
• Former Spanish colonies
• New Spain
• Colonial Mexico
• Colonial United States (Spanish)
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• History of Baja California
• History of Baja California Sur
• Pre-statehood history of California
• Pre-statehood history of Nevada
• Pre-statehood history of Utah
• Historical geography of Mexico
• History of the Gulf of California