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From the snowy peaks of the Sierras to the boundless Pacific Ocean, California truly has something for everyone. The nation’s third-largest state and by far its most populous, California is best characterized by the diversity and contrasts of its climate, geography and population. Whether it’s skiing or surfing, towering redwood forests or jagged coastline, fruited valleys or arid desert, Hollywood glitz and glamour or rustic desert charm, you’ll find it in California.

Known as the Golden State since the gold-rush days of 1849, California’s history has been marked by booms that have attracted people the world over and dramatically altered its landscape. A fairly sleepy agricultural land under the Spanish and Mexican flags, California was briefly an independent republic before becoming a U.S. state in 1850. By that time, California’s transformation from backwater into land of dreams for millions had begun.

In the decade following with the discovery of gold in the Sierras, the state’s population grew nearly ten-fold. The population has tripled roughly every 35 years since, to over 37 million people today. Good weather, wide-open spaces and ample opportunity have attracted people from the four corners of the globe to the Golden State. The arrival of the entertainment industry to the quiet cow-town of Los Angeles, improvements in irrigation that made the central valleys world centers for fruits and vegetables, and the “dot-com revolution” of the 1990s are just some of the developments that have driven California’s growth.

The Golden State’s geography is extremely varied, as befits such a large state. With over 1,300 miles of coastline, California is best known for its gorgeous beaches and headlands, but the state is also profoundly marked by its many mountain ranges, such as the Coast Range, Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. These mountains provide California with a bevy of winter sports playgrounds (think Lake Tahoe) and innumerable state an