CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Hawaii

The State of Hawaii is a state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, making it the 50th state. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The most recent census estimate puts the state's population at 1,283,388.


This state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest, and is often called the "Big Island" or "Big Isle" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. This archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.


TOPOGRAPHY
An archipelago situated some 2,000 mi (3,200 km) southwest of the North American mainland, Hawaii is the southernmost state of the United States and the second westernmost state after Alaska. Only Hawaii and Alaska are outside the contiguous United States and do not share a border with any other U.S. state.

Hawaii is the only state of the United States that:

• is not geographically located in North America
• grows coffee
• is completely surrounded by water
• is totally an archipelago
• has a royal palace
• does not have a straight line in its state boundary

Hawaii's tallest mountain, Mauna Kea stands at 13,796 ft (4,205 m)but is taller than Mount Everest if followed to the base of the mountain—from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, rising about 33,500 ft (10,200 m).

All of the Hawaiian islands were formed by volcanoes erupting from the sea floor from a magma source described in geological theory as a hotspot. The theory maintains that as the tectonic plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly direction, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. This explains why only volcanoes on the southern half of the Big Island, and the Loihi Seamount (Lōʻihi) deep below the waters off its southern coast, are presently active, with Loihi being the newest volcano to form.
The last volcanic eruption outside the Big Island occurred at Haleakala on Maui in the late 18th century, though recent research suggests that Haleakala's most recent eruptive activity could be hundreds of years earlier. In 1790, Kīlauea exploded in the deadliest eruption known to have occurred in what is now the United States. As many as 5,405 warriors and their families marching on Kīlauea were killed in an eruption.The volcanic activity and subsequent erosion created impressive geological features. The Big Island is notable as the world’s second highest island.

Because of the islands' volcanic formation, native life before human activity is said to have arrived by the "3 W's": wind (carried through the air), waves (brought by ocean currents), and wings (birds, insects, and whatever they brought with them). The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the wide range of environments to be found on high islands located in and near the tropic, has resulted in a vast array of endemic flora and fauna. Hawaii has more endangered species and has lost a higher percentage of its endemic species than anywhere in the United States.

CLIMATE
The climate of Hawaii is typical for a tropical area, although temperatures and humidity tend to be a bit less extreme than other tropical locales due to the constant trade winds blowing from the east. Summer highs are usually in the upper 80s °F, (around 31°C) during the day and mid 70s, (around 24 °C) at night. Winter temperatures during the day are usually in the low to mid 80s, (around 28 °C) and (at low elevation) seldom dipping below the mid 60s (18 °C) at night. Snow, although not usually associated with tropics, falls at 4,205 meters (13,796 ft) on Mauna Loa on the Big Island in some winter months. Snow rarely falls on Maui's Haleakala. Mount Waiʻaleʻale, on the island of Kauai, is notable for rainfall, as it has the second highest average annual rainfall on Earth, about 460 inches (11.7 m). Most of Hawaii has only two seasons: summer from May to October, and winter from October to April.

PROTECTION
There are several areas in Hawaii under the control and protection of the National Park Service. Two areas are designated as national parks: Haleakala National Park near Kula, Maui, includes Haleakala, the dormant volcano that formed east Maui; and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the southeast region of the island of Hawaii, which includes the active volcano Kilauea and its various rift zones.

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

There are three designated national historical parks: Kalaupapa National Historical Park in Kalaupapa, Molokai, the site of a former colony for leprosy patients; Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii; and Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park in Honaunau on the island of Hawaii, the site of an ancient Hawaiian place of refuge. Other areas under the control of the National Park Service include Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail on the island of Hawaii and the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor on Oahu.
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument was proclaimed by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006, under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The monument covers roughly 140,000 square miles (360,000 km²) of reefs, atolls and shallow and deep sea (out to 50 miles (80 km) offshore) in the Pacific Ocean, larger than all of America’s National Parks combined.

POPULATION
As of 2005, Hawaii has an estimated population of 1,275,194, which is an increase of 13,070, or 1.0%, from the prior year and an increase of 63,657, or 5.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 48,111 people (that is 96,028 births minus 47,917 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 16,956 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 30,068 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 13,112 people. The center of population of Hawaii is located directly between the two islands of Oahu and Molokai.
Hawaii has a de facto population of over 1.3 million due to military presence and tourists. Oahu, which is nicknamed "The Gathering Place", is the most populous island (and the one with the highest population density), with a resident population of just under one million in 597 square miles (1,546 km2), about 1,650 people per square mile (for comparison, New Jersey, which has 8,717,925 people in 7,417 square miles (19,210 km2) is the most-densely populated state with 1,134 people per square mile.) Hawaii's 1,275,194 people, spread over 6,423 square miles (including many unpopulated islands) results in an average population density of 188.6 persons per square mile, which makes Hawaii less densely populated than states like Ohio and Illinois.
The average projected lifespan of those born in Hawaii in the year 2000 is 79.8 years (77.1 years if male, 82.5 if female), longer than the residents of any other state.
U.S. military personnel make up approximately 1.3% of the total population in the islands.

ETHNICITIES
Ethnically, Hawaii is one of only four states in which non-Hispanic whites do not form a majority, and has the largest percentage of Asian Americans. Hawaii was the second majority-minority state in the United States. Both Hawaii and New Mexico have been majority-minority regions since the early 20th century, but New Mexico became a state before Hawaii. Hawaii also has the largest percentage of persons of mixed race, who constitute some 20% of the total population.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Northern Pacific Coast

An important element of its regional character is the North Pacific Coast's relative isolation from the rest of America. Less than 3 percent of the American population lives there. Populated sections of the region are separated from the other principal population centers by substantial distances of arid or mountainous terrain. Residents of the region often view this isolation as positive, a geographic buffer against the rest of the world. Economically, however, it has been a hindrance. High transportation costs inflate the price of Pacific Northwest products in distant eastern markets and discourage some manufacturers from locating in the region.

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
The North Pacific Coast is defined primarily on the basis of its physical environment. Stated very simply, it is a region strongly subject to maritime influence and rugged terrain. Precipitation is high, and vegetation associated with heavy moisture is located near the coast but with marked variation over short distances because of the influence of surrounding mountains on the region's climate.

PATTERNS OF HUMAN OCCUPATION
No other coastline, except for the polar areas, was explored by Europeans as late as was the North Pacific Coast. Vitus Bering had claimed the Alaska coast for Russia by 1740, but it was not until 1778 that Captain James Cook sailed the coast from Oregon to southeastern Alaska. By the time explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark worked their way across the Cascades to the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805, Philadelphia and New York City, each with about 75,000 people, were vying for the title of the country's largest city. By the mid-1840s, when American settlers began traveling the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley, New York's population was fast approaching 500,000.

The pre-European population of the region was relatively large. The moderate environment provided a plentiful supply of food throughout the year. Deer, berries, roots, shellfish, and especially salmon represented a natural bonanza of food that seemed without limit. The American Indians responded to this with a hunting and gathering economy, and no food crop cultivation. Concentrated along the coast, they were divided into many distinct ethnic groups, each occupying their own, often small, coastal valley.

SAN FRANCISCO TOMORROW

SFT has worked since 1970 to cultivate the city a physical environment in harmony with its natural setting and the needs of its inhabitants, to foster the orderly development of the City as a fit place to work and live and to educate the public and our elected officials as to the urgency of preserving the fragile environment which places San Francisco among the great cities of the earth.

SFT was founded in 1970 by neighborhood activists who joined together to fight the neighborhood zoning battles of the 1960s. A city-wide urban environmental organization, SFT is dedicated to promoting environmental quality, neighborhood livability and good government in San Francisco.
SFT concentrates on environmental issues because they believe a good environment is the necessary foundation upon which to build a good society. Their interests range from sewers to skylines, encompassing such varied issues as:

• Care and acquisition of open space
• Downtown growth
• Sensible neighborhood planning policies
• Wise use of our waterfront
• Better transit systems
• Toxics issues.

SFT participates actively in the City's political scene, endorse candidates and issues, draft initiatives for the ballot, and lend their support, when they can, to those individuals and groups who share the same concerns. SFT is a volunteer effort, operating solely on the talent and hard work of our individual members. Most work is done by committees, with our Board of Directors meeting once a month to set policy and approve action. Our expenses are paid for from membership dues, contributions and fundraising events.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: CALIFORNIA

San Francisco is located California and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several islands—Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island, and small portions of Alameda island, Red Rock Island, and Angel Island are part of the city. The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square," a common local colloquialism referring to the city's shape, though its total area, including water, is nearly 232 square miles (600 km2).

San Francisco is famous for its hills. There are more than 50 hills within city limits. Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, and Russian Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks, a pair of hills resting at one of the city's highest points, forms a popular overlook spot. San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 925 feet (282 m) high and is capped with a 103 foot (31 m) tall cross built in 1934. Dominating this area is Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower.

The San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity, even though neither passes through the city itself. It was the San Andreas Fault which slipped and caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction. However, there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage. San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina and Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the Embarcadero, sit on areas of landfill. Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from tunneling through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes; the resultant liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Climate
San Francisco's climate is characteristic of California’s Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and dry summers. Since it is surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco's climate is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean which tends to moderate temperature swings and produce a remarkably mild climate with little seasonal temperature variation. The dry period of May to October is mild to warm, with average high temperatures of 64-70°F and lows of 51-56°F. The rainy period of November to April is cool with high temperatures of 56-64°F and lows of 46-51°F. On average, temperatures exceed 75°F 28 days a year.

The combination of cold ocean water and the high heat of the California mainland create the city's characteristic fog that can cover the western half of the city all day during the spring and early summer. The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods, in the late summer, and during the fall, which are the warmest months of the year. Due to its sharp topography and maritime influences, San Francisco exhibits a multitude of distinct microclimates. The high hills in the geographic center of the city are responsible for a 20 percent variance in annual rainfall between different parts of the city. They also protect neighborhoods directly to their east from the foggy and cool conditions experienced in the Sunset District; for those who live on the eastern side of the city, San Francisco is sunnier, with an average of 260 clear days, and only 105 cloudy days per year.

Annual precipitation is about 20.4 inches which occurs mainly during the cooler months of November through April. On average, there are 67 rainy days a year.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Southwest Border Area: Tricultural Development

SAN FRANCISCO ETHNIC DIVERSITY:

Races in San Francisco:
White Non-Hispanic (43.6%)
Chinese (19.6%)
Hispanic (14.1%)
Black (7.8%)
Other race (6.5%)
Filipino (5.2%)
Two or more races (4.3%)
Other Asian (1.5%)
Japanese (1.5%)
Vietnamese (1.4%)
American Indian (1.2%)
Korean (1.0%)
Asian Indian (0.7%)

(Total can be greater than 100% because Hispanics could be counted in other races)

http://www.city-data.com/city/San-Francisco-California.html

Here is a link to a interesting study of San Francisco ethnic diversity by Stanford University http://ccsre.stanford.edu/reports/report_1.pdf

The estimated 2008 population of San Francisco was 808,976. With over 16,000 people per square mile, San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major American city. San Francisco is the traditional focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area and forms part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Metropolitan Statistical Area and the greater San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area (CSA) whose population is over seven million, making it the fifth largest in the United States as of the 2000 Census.

Like many larger U.S. cities, San Francisco is a minority-majority city, as non-Hispanic whites comprise less than half of the population. As of 2007, the Census Bureau estimated that 45.0 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white. Asian Americans make up 33.1% of the population; Chinese Americans constitute the largest single ethnic group in San Francisco at about a fifth of the population. Hispanics of any race make up 14.0% of the population. San Francisco's African American population has declined in recent decades, from 13.4 percent of the city in 1970 to 7.3 percent of the population in 2007. The current percentage of African Americans in San Francisco is similar to that of the state of California.
Native San Franciscans form a relatively small percentage of the city's population: only 37.4 percent of its residents were born in California, while 26.9 percent were born in a different U.S. state. More than a third of city residents (35.7 percent) were born outside the United States

According to the 2005 American Community Survey, San Francisco has the highest percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S cities, at 15.4%. San Francisco also has the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county, with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other metropolitan area.
The San Francisco median household income in 2007 was $65,519, with the median family income at $81,136. Following a national trend, an out-migration of middle class families is contributing to widening income disparity and has left the city with a lower proportion of children, 14.5 percent, than any other large American city.
The city's poverty rate, at 7.7 percent, is lower than the national average and among the lowest for cities ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Homelessness has been a chronic and controversial problem for San Francisco since the early 1980s. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city. San Francisco's rates of violent and property crime, reported for 2006 as 875 and 4,958 incidents per 100,000 residents respectively, are higher than the national average.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Empty Interior

Stretching from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains westward to the Sierra Nevada of California, to the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest and into Alaska, is the largest area of sparse population in America. Its low average population density is the key identifying feature of this region. There is much variation in other elements of the territory's geography. Portions have rugged terrain interspersed with a series of plateaus, many of which contain extensive flat areas. The population of the region is mostly of European origin, although Hispanic-Americans and American Indians are found in significant proportions in the south. Irrigated agriculture is important in some areas, as is ranching, whereas in other areas, lumbering, tourism, and mining are dominant. This massive expanse of land contains some of America's most strikingly scenic portions. The impact of humans on the region, although locally important, has been overshadowed to a great degree by the varied splendors of the natural environment.

An element of the region's physical geography is its ruggedness. Most of the mountains of the eastern United States appear rounded and molded; the ranges of the West present abrupt, almost vertical slopes, and the peaks frequently appear as jagged edges pointing skyward. This difference is due partly to age. Most of the western mountains, although by no means all of them, are substantially younger than the eastern ranges. Thus erosion, which results in an eventual smoothing of the land surface, has been active for a much shorter time.

The Pleistocene, the carving done by mountain glaciers did much to form the topography of the interior West, and remnants of the glaciers can still be found in parts of the region. Most widespread in the Pacific mountains of southern Alaska, smaller glaciers are found as far south as the central Rocky Mountains in Colorado and the Sierra Nevada of California.

Most of the Empty Interior is occupied by plateaus rather than mountains. Probably the most scenically dramatic portion of this section is the Colorado Plateau along the middle Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. The Empty Interior supports a growing wildlife population that includes the bison (buffalo), the North American elk, the pronghorn antelope, the wild bear, the white-tailed deer, and the wild turkey.

In the state of Nevada, various government agencies control almost 90 percent of all land. Although the percentages are lower elsewhere, the basic pattern of governmental predominance is found throughout the Empty Interior. It is not surprising that so much of the land remains in government hands. This area and Alaska were the final regions to be occupied by any substantial numbers of people, and federal programs of land distribution, designed to encourage agricultural use, were not relevant because little of the region held any real agricultural promise. The Latter-Day Saints, or, more commonly, the Mormons, were established in upstate New York in 1830. The church and its followers were attacked repeatedly, both verbally and physically, for what were considered their "unusual" beliefs. The Mormons moved several times, searching for a place to practice their religion. Many Mormons, often on foot, pushed into the West, where they hoped to create an independent Mormon state (which substantially failed). Some of the largest American Indian reservations are found here, especially in northern Arizona and New Mexico. Also, some of the country's largest bombing and gunnery ranges, as well as its only atomic bomb testing facility, are found here. The population is sparse, and alternative demands on the land are not great.

CHAPTER TWELVE: The Great Plains and Prairies

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and into Mexico. The Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American Interior Plains, which extend east to the Appalachian Plateau. Unfortunately, San Francisco is not a part of the Great Plains.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Agricultural Core

The Agricultural Core is defined by its aura of small town, rural America. The area grows all type of crops such as corn, wheat, and grain. The region overlaps the manufacturing plane and thus it is not only agriculturally active but also manufacturing. Most of the people living in the region are white and/or descendants of foreign-born migrants from northwestern Europe. There is absolutely no connections with San Francisco.

CHAPTER TEN: The Subtropical Enviornment

The Southern Coastland takes up the bottom eastern half of the country. The climate is rather humid but subtropical and thats one of the reasons the Southern Coastland attracts tourists and new residents. The Southern Coastlands picks up from the mouth of the Rio Grande and ranging through Florida's peninsula to coastal North Carolina.

Compared to the Southern Coastland, San Francisco climate is characteristic of California’s Mediterranean Climate with mild, wet winters and dry summers. Since it is surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco's climate is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean which tends to moderate temperature swings and produce a remarkably mild climate with little seasonal temperature variation.

CHAPTER NINE: The Changing South

A brief information about the Reconstruction that lead to a Changing South: "During Reconstruction, industrial and commercial projects began to restore the economy of the South, and new programs were developed such as public school systems. These improvements, however, failed to ensure racial equality, and former slaves remained, in most cases, landless labourers, although emancipated slaves were assisted in finding work, shelter, and lost relatives through federal agencies.

Johnson's failure to work with moderate Republicans in guaranteeing basic rights and protection for the freed slaves caused a Radical triumph in the elections of 1866, ushering in a period of ‘Radical Reconstruction’, and opened the way for military reconstruction. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 began this process, dividing the Southern states (except Tennessee, which had been readmitted to the Union in 1866) into five military districts. Civilian rule and full state rights were to be restored only after the states had adopted constitutions based upon universal male suffrage and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. By 1868 all but three states were readmitted under these conditions, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia finally acquiescing in 1870. The Fifteenth Amendment ratified in March 1870, aimed to guarantee black suffrage in the South.
Despite the legislation, many Southern states still practised discrimination and segregation. Jim Crow Laws disenfranchised blacks in every Southern state, making them powerless to prevent these segregation laws and codes."

(http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Reconstruction+and+The+Changing+South)
The changing south derives from creating a new southern part of United States, with the effort of creating a beginning from the horrible past it adheres. The Changing South has no connection to San Francisco in the West.

CHAPTER EIGHT: Appalachia and The Ozarks

The Appalachian Uplands stretches from New York to Alabama, and the area of the Ozark-Ouachita mountains are separated by approximately 475 kilometers of land. They are actually two parts of a single physiographic province that has topographic similarity along with topography and human settlement issues. Therefore, there is no relation to the West.

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Bypassed East

Sorry to say that according to the textbook the bypassed east only comprised of northern New England and the Adirondacks of New York. The Bypassed East is near, even astride, major routeways, but not on them. Ocean transportation can easily bypass the region, putting it in a transportation shadow that has produced slow regional economic growth and even stagnation.
Southern New England is a part of metropolitan America. Northern New England, for the most part, is not. It is much more like Canada's Atlantic Provinces. There is no relevence to San Francisco.

CHAPTER FIVE: The North American Manufacturing Core.

As Professor Richard Walker of the department of Geography at University of California, Berkeley explains: “The San Francisco Bay Area demonstrates how industrial dispersal had created the sprawling form of the American metropolis. Neither change in transport modes nor residential suburbanization is principally responsible for shaping the outward spiral of urbanization. Manufacturing began its outward march from the outset of the city's industrialization, establishing peripheral nodes of employment and working class residence within San Francisco, then beyond the city limits in South San Francisco and especially the East Bay. The main cause of decentralization has been industrial shifts; the outbreak of new activities in new places, normally in the form of industrial districts at various spatial scales. A second cause has been the orchestration of development by business leaders through property ownership and political maneuvering guided by a general vision of metropolitan expansion, whether in co-operation or competition with one another.” Manufacturing has played a huge role to the development of the city, creating jobs and providing resources.

CHAPTER FOUR: Megalopolis

The term Megalopolis is derived from Greek and means "very large city." Sorry to say, Megalopolis is normally referred over to the East coast of the United States stretching from Boston to Washington D.C.

French Geographer Jean Gottman studied the northeastern United States during the 1950s and published a book that described the region as a vast metropolitan area also known as Megalopolis. Gottmann , along with his findings, he also introduced two developing Megalopoli in the United States - from Chicago and the Great Lakes to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River (ChiPitts) and the California coast from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego.

The city of San Francisco along with Oakland, San Jose, Napa Valley, Monterrey and other places were commonly referred to as a Megalopolis in its own but not even closely compared to the megalopolis in the Eastern side of United States

CHAPTER THREE: Foundations of Human Activity.

The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation of the territory in the city of San Francisco dates back to 3000 BC. Prior to the coming of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers, over 10,000 indigenous people, later to be called the Oholone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), lived in the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay. People of the Ohlone language group occupied Northern California from at least back in the 6th century. Since the early 16th century, although their territory had been claimed by Spain, they had relatively little contact with Europeans until 1769. 1769 was when, as part of an effort to colonize Alta California, an exploration party led by Don Gaspar de Portola learned the existence of San Francisco Bay. Seven years later, in 1776, an expedition led by Juan Bautista de Anza selected the site for the Presidio of San Francisco. Later the same year, the Franciscan missionary founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores). The Yelamu tribal group of the Ohlone, who had several villages in the area, was brought to live and work at the mission and be converted into the Catholic faith.

Upon independence from Spain, the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the mission system gradually ended. In 1835, an Englishman erected the first independent homestead. The Englishman together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro named the state Yerba Buena. Yerba Buena was later renamed San Francisco during the Mexican-American War.

San Francisco’s population increased dramatically when the Gold Rush era came about between 1848 and1855. People all over the world came to California to seek for gold. Today, population is still soaring high with constant in and out immigrants. Tourist attractions helped increased the reputation of the city. San Francisco’s culture could be described as hippy and urban.

CHAPTER TWO: The Physical Enviornment.

San Francisco's climate is characteristic of California’s Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and dry summers. Since it is surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco's climate is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean which tends to moderate temperature swings and produce a remarkably mild climate with little seasonal temperature variation. The combination of cold ocean water and the high heat of the California mainland create the city's characteristic fog that can cover the western half of the city all day during the spring and early summer. Due to its sharp topography and maritime influences, San Francisco exhibits a multitude of distinct microclimates. The high hills in the geographic center of the city are responsible for a 20 percent variance in annual rainfall between different parts of the city.

San Francisco is famous for its hills. There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Some neighborhoods are even named after the hill in which they reside on. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks is a pair of hills resting on one of the city's highest points which forms a popular overlook spot. San Francisco's tallest hill is Mount Davidson standing at about 925 feet high.

Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis in San Francisco. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction. However, there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage. Seismologists have observed that some districts tend to repeatedly experience stronger seismic shaking than others. This is because the ground under these districts is relatively soft. Soft soils amplify ground shaking. An example of this effect was observed in San Francisco, where many of the same neighborhoods were heavily damaged in both the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes.

CHAPTER ONE: Regions and Themes.

Geographers use regions as a neat system of categorization, a way of organizing a complex set of facts about places into a more compact, meaningful set of information. As with any categorization, the regions are satisfactory if they identify understandable patterns in the facts and if they help clarify the complex patterns.

The City and County of San Francisco is known locally as "The City" because of its culture and geography. San Francisco is surrounded by water on the north, the east, and the west sides, it is the cultural and urban center of the region. San Francisco is the key population center of the California region it squeezes approximately 800,000 people in only 47 square miles, which makes it the second most densely populated city in the United States after New York City. The area of land is limited which makes continued population growth more challenging for the city. Due to the limited availability of land it consequently increased real estate prices.
The Bay Area has many different public transportation systems such as: airports bus transits, rapid transit, regional rail systems, public and private ferry services. There are three international airports in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. BART, CalTrain and Amtrak all provide additional transportation in and out of the Bay Area.

NORTH BAY

The region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known as the North Bay. North Bay consists of a couple of county’s such as Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County and Solano County. Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the nation. The North Bay is comparatively rural; many areas are undeveloped with open space, farmland and vineyards. The North Bay is the only section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. However, increased urbanization has lead both Sonoma and Marin counties to begin construction on a commuter rail transit system.

PENINSULA

The area between the San Francisco and the South Bay is known as the Peninsula. Peninsula consists of a series of small cities and suburban communities such as San Mateo County and Santa Clara County. This area is extremely divers, many of the cities towns had originally been centers of rural life until the post-World War II era when large numbers of middle to upper class residents moved away to small villages.

EAST BAY

The eastern side of the bay area is known as the East Bay which splits into two regions, the inner East Bay and the outer East Bay. The inner East Bay includes cities such as Oakland, Fremont, Berkeley, and Richmond. The inner East Bay is more urban and more densely populated with a more ethnically diverse population. The outer East Bay consists of the eastern portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The outer East Bay is particularly urban in Livermore city as well as being part suburban in Pleasanton-Dublin. This area remains largely white demographically.

SOUTH BAY

The South Bay consists of Santa Clara Valley and Silicon Valley including a major city of San Jose. The South Bay was an early development of working and middle class families who left the coastal cities of the Eastern Bay which is south of Oakland. This area has long been developed and expanded and is often featured as a stereotype of the typical California suburban city. Today, the growth continues, primarily fueled by technology and cheap immigrant workers. The result has been a huge increase in the value of property forcing many middle class families out of the area or into nascent ghettos in older sections of the region.

The regional government in the San Francisco Bay Area defines the Bay Area as ten counties, including Santa Cruz but excluding San Benito. On the other hand, Santa Cruz and San Benito along with Monterey County are part of a different regional government organization called the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments. The city of Santa Cruz is geographically isolated from the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is usually considered a part of the Monterey Bay area since the city lies on the north end of the Monterey Bay. The city is also sometimes regarded as the northernmost point of the California Central Coast which extends along the state's coastline to Santa Barbara.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a popular internation tourist destination famous for its landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Coit Tower, and Chinatown. It is also famous for its steep rolling hills, the cable cars, and its assorted mix of Victorian and modern architecture. The city is also known for its diverse cosmopolitan population. As we continue learning the fundamentals of US Georgraphy we will also explore in depths of the Geography of San Francisco.