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Los Angeles

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Los Angeles (formerly El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula, "Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Small Portion") is a large coastal metropolis in southern California in the United States.

Los Angeles is the largest city in California, and the second largest in the United States, in terms of population, with a population of 3,694,820 as of the 2000 census. The Los Angeles metropolitan area (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Orange Counties) is home to over 16 million people of diverse ethnic and economic background.

Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team, the Los Angeles Lakers National Basketball Association team, the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team, the Los Angeles Kings National Hockey League team, and the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer team. In suburban Orange County can be found the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim National Hockey League team and the Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team.

History

The area was visited by the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá in 1769, and in 1781 the town was founded. Located on the Los Angeles River, the town was a cattle ranching center. In 1846 the U.S. Army conquered the area. The arrival of the Southern Pacific railroad 1876 and the discovery of oil in the early 1890s stimulated expansion, as did the development of the movie industry in the early 20th century.

During World War II, Los Angeles grew as a center for production of war supplies and munitions, and thousands of African Americans migrated to the area to fill factory jobs. After the war massive immigration into surrounding suburban areas made Los Angeles enormously prosperous. In 1965, the African-American community of Watts was the site of six days of rioting that left 34 people dead and caused over $200 million in property damage.

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