| State of California | |||
| Coordinates | 37°NB, 120°WL | ||
| General | |||
| Surface | 423.970 km² (4,7% water) |
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| Residents (2018) |
39.557.045 (92,6 inhabitants/km²) |
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| Capital city | Sacramento | ||
| Politics | |||
| Governor | Gavin Newsom | ||
| Side | Democratic Party | ||
| Legislature | California State Legislature | ||
| House of Lords | California Senate | ||
| House of Commons | California State Assembly | ||
| senators | Dianne Feinstein en Alex Padilla | ||
| Delegates | 46 Democrats 7 Republicans |
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| Other | |||
| Time zone | Pacific Standard Time (UTC−8) | ||
| Joined | 9 september 1850 | ||
| For joining | Republic of California | ||
| Nickname | Golden State | ||
| Lied | I Love You, California | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | US-CA | ||
| Website | www.ca.gov | ||
| Photo’s | |||
| The Golden Gate Bridge over the Golden Gate is an icon of San Francisco | |||
| The rounded weathering shapes of the mountains in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada are one of California’s tourist icons | |||
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California (English and Spanish: California) is one of the states of the United States of America. It is stretched from north to south along the west coast of the country, on the Pacific Ocean. The capital is Sacramento. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, and Oakland are the largest cities. California includes two of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, the Greater Los Angeles Areaand the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of over 39.5 million people (2018), California has more residents than any other state in the US.
The area of the state of California is 423,970 km². This makes California slightly larger than Germany or Japan and slightly smaller than France or Sweden. California is the third largest state in the US after Alaska and Texas. California is bordered to the south by the Mexican state of Baja California, to the east by the US states of Arizona and Nevada and to the north by the state of Oregon. The state is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and southwest. The California coastline is approximately 1400 km long.
According to JIBIN123.COM, California has a lot of natural beauty, rich vegetation and a diverse fauna. The highest and lowest point of the 48 continental states are located in this state. There are extensive nature reserves, including the tallest trees in the world. There are mountain ranges with ski areas, but also deserts, glaciers, forests, hills, lakes and beaches. The climate and vegetation range from arid desert areas to alpine high mountains.
California became part of the United States in 1846-1848; before that it was part of Mexico. The symbol of the state is the California grizzly bear, which is also depicted on the flag. California’s nickname is “the Golden State “.
Government and facilities
California State Capitol in Sacramento, which houses the state legislature
Government
California is governed as a republic with a clear separation of powers. The legislature, the California State Legislature, consists of two chambers of representatives: a lower house and an upper house (or senate). The upper house, the California State Senate, has 40 members, each representing one constituency. The House of Commons, the California State Assembly, has 80 members, each of whom also represents a constituency. Elections are held every two years. The constituencies for the two houses do not coincide and are arranged in such a way that each district has approximately the same number of inhabitants. Until recently, politicians were able to reclassify constituencies after each election, often through ” gerrymandering “. As a result, some districts had acquired a complicated topographical shape and it was in fact known in advance which candidate would be chosen. However, in 2010, voters decided to create a commission, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, who was tasked with redrafting the districts for the 2012 elections, making California’s districts, both for state and congressional districts, some of the most competitive in the country.
The executive branch is headed by a governor, who is elected by popular vote every four years. The governor is responsible for so-called “departments”, government agencies that deal with a certain area. Most departments are located in Sacramento and are grouped into “agencies”. In addition to the governor, there is also a lieutenant governor who acts as a deputy to the governor and chairman of the upper house. Other authority figures with roles similar to those of ministers include the Attorney General, a Secretary of State (oversees elections and referendums), a State Treasurer (oversees the state’s finances), a State Controller (oversees state expenditures), an Insurance Commissioner ( oversees the insurance system), and a Superintendent of Public Instruction (oversees education). All these authorities are directly elected by the population in separate elections.
The 2018 gubernatorial election was won by Democratic Party ‘s Gavin Newsom. He took office as governor of California in January 2019. The Lieutenant Governor of the state is Eleni Kounalakis.
How California’s government functions is governed by its own constitution, which can be amended through referendums. Both the governor and the two chambers as well as the people (by petition) can initiate a referendum.
Division of California into counties
Education
Campus van de University of California in Berkeley
Like the rest of the United States, the education system in California consists of three tiers: primary, secondary, and higher education. Compared to other states, California has a relatively small budget for education and the number of teachers per student is one of the lowest in the United States.
Secondary education consists of mostly public ” high schools “. After that, you can opt for a two-year program at one of the 110 community colleges in the state. With more than 2.5 million students, the California Community Colleges System is one of the largest higher education programs in the world. The state thereafter has two university systems: California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC). The CSU has more than 400,000 students spread across 23 campuses, making it the largest university system in the United States. However, the CSU conducts very little scientific researchand is mainly focused on education. The UC has nearly 200,000 students and ten campuses, the largest of which are the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Both are among the highest ranked universities in the world. The UC is focused on scientific research, has more money available per student and is more highly regarded than the CSU universities.
Also, the state has some highly regarded private universities, such as Stanford University (located in Palo Alto), California Institute of Technology (CalTech, located in Pasadena), the University of Southern California (USC, located in Los Angeles), and Claremont Colleges (located in Los Angeles). in Claremont).
Tourism
California has a very diverse range of tourist attractions. Combined with a warm and sunny climate, they ensure that California receives the largest number of foreign tourists of all US states. Tourism is therefore an important source of income. The cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles attract the most visitors, both domestic and foreign tourists. In San Francisco, downtown with Chinatown and the harbor at Fisherman’s Wharf, the prison island of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate Park are the main attractions. In the vicinity of Los Angeles are the amusement park Disneyland (in Anaheim), Hollywoodwith Warner Bros. movie studios and theme parks. and Universal Studios, and the boulevards and marinas of Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Los Angeles also has a large number of internationally renowned museums, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In San Diego, the SeaWorld dolphinarium and the Californian version of Legoland are the main attractions.
California’s long coast also attracts tourists, especially in the sunny south of the state. However, large parts of the coast do not consist of beach but of cliffs.
California also has a wide range of natural attractions, including a large number of national parks. Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada attracts the largest number of visitors. The Yosemite Valley is known for its waterfalls, huge redwoods and rocky cliffs. Other tourist locations in the Sierra Nevada include Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park (which has one of the deepest canyons in the world), Red Rock Canyon, and Lake Tahoe on the Nevada border. In the desert in the south of the state are Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park andMojave National Preserve. To the north are the volcanoes of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Shasta and Redwood National Park, home to the tallest trees in the world. In 2013, the Pinnacles National Monument in the Central Coast region became Pinnacles National Park.
List of counties in California
According to COUNTRYAAH, the US state of California is divided into 58 counties.
California counties range in size from 122 km² for San Francisco to 51,960 km² for San Bernardino County. Alpine County has a population of just 1,175, while Los Angeles County is populated by nearly 10 million people.
Counties are responsible for courts at the local level, the organization of elections, the collection of wealth taxes, and the filing of documents such as deeds. Through the sheriff, a county is also responsible for policing in areas not covered by incorporated cities. In America, a county is the standard unit of local government: all land in a state belongs to a county anyway. Residents of a large enough tract of land can incorporate that into a city, with the city government receiving a portion of the county’s tax revenue and can also levy taxes itself. A city can choose to take over virtually all of the county’s duties on its territory, but can also offer just a few services and pay the county to provide the others. A city that does this is called a contract city. Lakewoodwas the first such city in the US. Other places in California chose to withdraw almost completely from county governments. Due to the different possibilities in terms of governance and taxation, the services offered by cities and counties dare to differ greatly from each other.
There is one consolidated city-county in California, San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco. In that city, the city’s board of supervisors is responsible for both city and county duties.
| County | Capital | |||
| Alameda County | Oakland | 1853 | 1.510.271 | 1.911 km² |
| Alpine County | Markleeville | 1864 | 1.175 | 1.914 km² |
| Amador County | Jackson | 1854 | 38.091 | 1.536 km² |
| Butte County | Oroville | 1850 | 220.000 | 4.248 km² |
| Calaveras County | San Andreas | 1850 | 45.578 | 2.642 km² |
| Colusa County | Colusa | 1850 | 21.419 | 2.981 km² |
| Contra Costa County | Martinez | 1850 | 1.049.025 | 1.865 km² |
| Del Norte County | Crescent City | 1857 | 28.610 | 2.611 km² |
| El Dorado County | Placerville | 1850 | 181.058 | 4.434 km² |
| Fresno County | Fresno | 1856 | 930.450 | 15.444 km² |
| Glenn County | Willows | 1891 | 28.122 | 3.406 km² |
| Humboldt County | Eureka | 1853 | 134.623 | 9.254 km² |
| Imperial County | El Centro | 1907 | 174.528 | 10.813 km² |
| Inyo County | Independence | 1866 | 18.546 | 26.397 km² |
| Kern County | Bakersfield | 1866 | 839.631 | 21.088 km² |
| Kings County | Hanford | 1893 | 152.982 | 3.600 km² |
| Lake County | Lakeport | 1861 | 64.665 | 3.258 km² |
| Lassen County | Susanville | 1864 | 34.895 | 11.805 km² |
| Los Angeles County | Los Angeles | 1850 | 9.818.605 | 10.515 km² |
| Madera County | Madera | 1893 | 150.865 | 5.537 km² |
| Marin County | San Rafael | 1850 | 252.409 | 1.347 km² |
| Mariposa County | Mariposa | 1850 | 18.251 | 3.758 km² |
| Mendocino County | Ukiah | 1850 | 87.841 | 9.088 km² |
| Merced County | Merced | 1855 | 255.793 | 9.088 km² |
| Modoc County | Alturas | 1874 | 9.686 | 10.215 km² |
| Mono County | Bridgeport | 1861 | 14.202 | 7.884 km² |
| Monterey County | Salinas | 1850 | 415.057 | 8.604 km² |
| Napa County | Napa | 1850 | 136.484 | 1.953 km² |
| Nevada County | Nevada City | 1851 | 98.764 | 2.481 km² |
| Orange County | Santa Ana | 1889 | 3.010.232 | 2.046 km² |
| Placer County | Auburn | 1851 | 348.432 | 3.893 km² |
| Plumas County | Quincy | 1854 | 20.007 | 6.615 km² |
| Riverside County | Riverside | 1893 | 2.189.641 | 18.669 km² |
| Sacramento County | Sacramento | 1850 | 1.418.788 | 2.502 km² |
| San Benito County | Hollister | 1874 | 55.269 | 3.597 km² |
| San Bernardino County | San Bernardino | 1853 | 2.035.210 | 51.960 km² |
| San Diego County | San Diego | 1850 | 3.095.313 | 10.888 km² |
| San Francisco County | San Francisco | 1850 | 805.235 | 122 km² |
| San Joaquin County | Stockton | 1850 | 685.306 | 3.623 km² |
| San Luis Obispo County | San Luis Obispo | 1850 | 269.637 | 8.557 km² |
| San Mateo County | Redwood City | 1856 | 718.451 | 1.163 km² |
| Santa Barbara County | Santa Barbara | 1850 | 423.895 | 7.091 km² |
| Santa Clara County | San Jose | 1850 | 1.781.642 | 3.344 km² |
| Santa Cruz County | Santa Cruz | 1850 | 262.382 | 1.155 km² |
| Shasta County | Redding | 1850 | 177.223 | 9.806 km² |
| Sierra County | Downieville | 1852 | 3.240 | 2.468 km² |
| Siskiyou County | Yreka | 1852 | 44.900 | 16.283 km² |
| Solano County | Fairfield | 1850 | 413.344 | 2.145 km² |
| Sonoma County | Santa Rosa | 1850 | 483.878 | 4.082 km² |
| Stanislaus County | Modesto | 1854 | 514.453 | 3.872 km² |
| Sutter County | Yuba City | 1850 | 94.737 | 1.562 km² |
| Tehama County | Red Bluff | 1856 | 63.463 | 7.643 km² |
| Trinity County | Weaverville | 1850 | 13.786 | 8.234 km² |
| Tulare County | Visalia | 1852 | 442.179 | 12.494 km² |
| Tuolumne County | Sonora | 1850 | 55.365 | 5.791 km² |
| Ventura County | Ventura | 1872 | 823.318 | 4.781 km² |
| Yolo County | Woodland | 1850 | 200.849 | 2.621 km² |
| Yuba County | Marysville | 1850 | 72.155 | 1.632 km² |
| Bronnen, noten en/of referenties |
