San Francisco

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Lore & Background

The San Francisco Bay Area is among the most economically productive large urban areas in the United States and the world, with a GDP of $1.332 trillion in 2024, higher than all but 17 countries. As of 2020, the OECD-defined metropolitan area, with 6.7 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082) across all metropolitan areas in the OECD countries. In 2023, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $268 billion and a GDP per capita of approximately $200,000–$230,000, according to the most recent Bureau of Economic Analysis data. This productivity is spurred by its leading universities, high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. The city is home to numerous companies—many in the technology sector—including Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, Levi's, Gap, OpenAI, Chime, Anthropic, Databricks, Dropbox, and Lyft. In 2022, San Francisco had more than 1.7 million international visitors and approximately 20 million domestic visitors. It is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods; its Chinatown and Mission districts; mild climate; and landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Alcatraz. The city is home to educational and cultural institutions such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Legion of Honor, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco.

In Their Own Story

The earliest archeological evidence of human habitation in the area dates to 3000 BCE. The Ohlone name for San Francisco was Ahwaste, meaning 'place at the bay'. The Yelamu group of the Ramaytush people lived in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party arrived on November 2, 1769, the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay. The arrival of Spanish colonists, and the establishment of the Mission system, marked the beginning of the assimilation of the Ramaytush people and the decline of their language and culture. The Spanish Empire claimed San Francisco as part of Las Californias, a province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2, 1769, when the Portolá expedition, led by Don Gaspar de Portolá and Juan Crespí, arrived at San Francisco Bay. Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor, the Spanish dispatched Pedro Fages in 1770 to find a more direct route to the San Francisco Peninsula from Monterey, which would become part of the El Camino Real route. In 1774, Juan Bautista de Anza arrived in the area to select sites for a mission and presidio. The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5, 1775, when the Spanish ship San Carlos, commanded by Juan Manuel de Ayala, became the first ship to anchor in the bay. Soon after, on March 28, 1776, Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco and on October 9, Mission San Francisco de Asís, also known as Mission Dolores, was founded by Padre Francisco Palóu. In 1794, the Presidio established the Castillo de San Joaquín, a fortification on the southern side of the Golden Gate, which later came to be known as Fort Point. In 1804, the province of Alta California was created, which included San Francisco. At its peak in 1810–1820, the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1,100 people. In 1821, Spain ceded the Californias to Mexico. The extensive California mission system gradually lost its influence during the period of Mexican rule, although it was not until 1833 that the missions would be secularized. Agricultural land became largely privatized as ranchos, as was occurring in other parts of California. Coastal trade increased, including a half-dozen barques from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters. With the enactment of the Mexican Secularization Act of 1833, the missions were required to divest themselves of their extensive landholdings and emancipate the indigenous people under their control. As part of the process of secularization, Governor José Figueroa opened up San Francisco to civilian settlement. Prior to secularization, the only settlements in San Francisco had been the military settlement at the Presidio and the religious settlement at Mission Dolores. In 1835, the Presidio garrison, commanded by Mariano Vallejo, relocated to the Presidio of Sonoma, which was regarded as needing a greater military presence due to the proximity of the Russian settlement at Fort Ross. Only a small detachment remained at the Presidio of San Francisco. Mission Dolores sold most of its property in 1836, retaining only the church and related structures. In 1833, Juana Briones de Miranda was granted a small rancho at El Polín Spring, near the Presidio, founding the first non-indigenous civilian household in San Francisco. In 1834, the pueblo of Yerba Buena was founded. Yerba Buena Cove (named after a native herb) was already a favored anchorage spot and the new settlement and trading post was founded by its shores. Yerba Buena was located in what is now the city's Chinatown and Financial District and was centered on a plaza that is now Portsmouth Square. A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant Jean Jacques Vioget as prelude to the city plan. Francisco de Haro became the first alcalde of Yerba Buena. In 1835, the second alcalde, José Joaquín Estudillo, approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena: to William Richardson. Yerba Buena began to attract American and European settlers; an 1842 census listed 21 residents (11%) born in the United States or Europe, as well as one Filipino merchant. Following the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the beginning of the U.S. Conquest of California, American forces from the USS Portsmouth under the command of John B. Montgomery captured Yerba Buena on July 9, 1846, with little resistance from the local Californio population, raising the American flag over Yerba Buena plaza (later renamed Portsmouth Square in commemoration of this event).

Reader's Guide

San Francisco, Spanish for 'Saint Francis', takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asís, which had been named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. The mission received its name in 1776, when it was founded by the Spanish under the leadership of Padre Francisco Palóu. The city has officially been known as San Francisco since 1847, when Washington Allon Bartlett, then serving as the city's alcalde, renamed it from Yerba Buena ('good herb' in Spanish), which had been the name of the first civilian pueblo in San Francisco. Earlier in San Francisco's history, the uninhabited area on the northeastern side of San Francisco was called El Paraje de Yerba Buena, after the herb that was growing abundantly there. The name 'Yerba Buena' continues to be used in locations in the city, such as on Yerba Buena Island. When using a nickname or abbreviation, local residents most commonly refer to San Francisco as 'the City' or 'SF'. Although the nickname 'Frisco' has a local pedigree dating at least to 1850 and has been used by some local residents in every generation since then, the uses of both 'Frisco' and the historically more recent 'San Fran' tend to elicit sharp divisions among residents. The California Cantonese who came for the California Gold Rush named California and specifically San Francisco 金山, Gāmsāan, 'Gold Mountain'. When gold was discovered in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, it was named 'New Gold Mountain' (Yue Chinese: 新金山, Sān Gāmsāan) and California and San Francisco as 'Old Gold Mountain' (舊金山, Gāu Gāmsāan).

Did You Know?

• San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more as of 2024.
• The city was originally named Yerba Buena ('good herb' in Spanish) before being renamed San Francisco in 1847 by alcalde Washington Allon Bartlett.
• The Ohlone name for San Francisco was Ahwaste, meaning 'place at the bay'.
• In 2024, San Francisco proper had a GDP per capita of $324,000.
• The California Cantonese who came for the Gold Rush named San Francisco 金山 (Gāmsāan), meaning 'Gold Mountain'.