Michael My dear schoolchildren, Today we have Special Studies Counselor Michael as a guest, who will exceptionally be teaching our history class. Quiet! Shhhh! Hey, listen ... you bunch! I'll send you all to the principal! There you go! No nonsense, or I'll hand out reprimands! I'll sort you out!

Good morning, dear children! Good morning, Mr. Special Studies Counselor! Hehehe ... well, my dears, today we will explore the question of what the Californian cities of San Francisco, San Diego, San Mateo, San Carlos, Santa Clara, San Jose, San Rafael, San Miguel, San Antonio, and Santa Barbara have in common. So, what stands out? Yes, you there, with the long hair in the last row! They say long hair, short mind! Yes? Yes? Oh, in vain ... well, dear children, these are all names of religious figures: Saint Anthony, Saint Joseph, Saint Charles, you get the picture, as Americans says.

And all of this happened around the year 1600, when the Spaniards boarded ships to conquer the world. They sailed around and came up with the idea of settling on the American continent. By 1700, they had taken a liking to Mexico, and they called the strip of the west coast there "Baja California" (pronounced "Bacha Kalifornia"), meaning "Lower California." Then, around 1770, they turned their attention to the more northern areas, including what is now California, which the Spanish gentlemen and ladies called "Alta California" (Upper California). From San Diego up to San Francisco, they established missions at every corner to convert the Native Americans. Believe it or not, where we live today in San Francisco, the Ohlone Indians lived 250 years ago. They subsisted on berries, seaweed, and fish, if I can believe the history book I recently bought. Honestly, personally, I would prefer a decent hamburger. And occasionally, they had geese, which, according to the book, were called "Laklak" in the Ohlone language.

All these missions, most of which came with a so-called "Presidio," a type of barracks for the Spanish soldiers, were connected by a road called "El Camino Real" (The King's Road). The El Camino Real began north of San Francisco, went through the city, and still continues today under its original name further south through the small towns of Silicon Valley and extends beyond Los Angeles and San Diego down to the current Mexican border. So, if you have lots of time and don't mind stopping at every traffic light, you can drive from San Francisco to the Mexican border on the former El Camino Real. Back in the day, California was still part of Mexico; it wasn't until 1848 that the USA seized the land in the Mexican-American War and never gave it back. That's why there are still plenty of streets with Spanish names around here today, such as the "Alameda de las Pulgas," which means "Street of the Fleas," where cows and sheep and other livestock were driven. In fact, I used to ride this street daily on my bicycle in San Mateo before I worked at Netscape in Mountain View.

"So, that's it from the cheerful world of Silicon Valley, dear children! Take care, it's been an honor!" "Goodbye, Mr. Special Studies Counselor!" "Hehehe ..."

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Santa Barbara
  	Minimum wage and sweatshops
  	WebVan -- the grocery delivery service
  	Volkszählung
  	Hairdressers in the USA
  	First names and their abbreviations
  	Speaking American with the Pros
  	Visa for the USA