San Francisco, a major city in California, is a popular destination for tourists from all over the world. This city is famous for its mild Mediterranean climate, summer fogs, hilly terrain, mix of Victorian and modern architecture and well-recognized landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars and Chinatown.
Originally, San Francisco was a small Spanish fishing village called Yerba Buena (Good Herb). In 1847, when the West Coast region became a part of the US, it was renamed to San Francisco, after the old Franciscan mission located near it. The California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, transforming San Francisco into the largest city on the West Coast at the time.
With the California Gold Rush, San Francisco began to grow in population. A lot of immigrants came to the city to seek their fortunes, including a large number of immigrants from China and Japan. They established their own neighborhoods known as Chinatown and Japantown. Nowadays these areas are the largest Asian communities outside Asia.
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guide to San Francisco with maps, photos and weather conditions.
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