San Francisco is an American city on a peninsula overlooking the Pacific Ocean in California. Spanish settlers founded it in 1776 as a mission named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, and it remained a small settlement until gold was discovered in the region in 1848, when within a few years it transformed into a booming city that drew hundreds of thousands of fortune-seekers in what became known as the «Gold Rush».
From Gold Rush to Innovation Capital
The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed a large part of the city, but it was quickly rebuilt to become one of the most important ports on the American West Coast. The «Golden Gate Bridge», opened in 1937, is one of the most famous bridges in the world, an engineering icon linking the city to neighboring Marin County across a famously foggy strait. In recent decades, the surrounding region, known as Silicon Valley, has become the global center of the technology industry.
- The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937 and became a global icon
- Historic «cable cars» have operated since the 19th century
- The former Alcatraz island prison is a leading tourist attraction
- A regional gateway to the technology industry of neighboring Silicon Valley
San Francisco is known for its steep hills and sloping streets, its distinctive summer fog, and its great cultural diversity, including historic neighborhoods like North America's oldest Chinatown.
