Northern California
Encyclopedia : N : NO : NOR : Northern California
Northern California, refers to the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Definitions of what areas constitute "Northern California" vary considerably. The term may refer to all of California north of the ten counties of Southern California, though some use the term to describe anything from San Luis Obispo County or the Transverse Ranges northward. Additionally, a distinction is sometimes made between Northern California (being north of Santa Cruz County) and Central California (stretching from Santa Cruz County to San Luis Obispo County), though many residents of rural far Northern California define their region as encompassing only those areas to the north of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan area. This definition becomes problematic for inland regions; the Central Valley is a distinct region in itself distinct from coastal California, though in Northern vs Central California divisions, the Sacramento Valley is placed in Northern California and the San Joaquin Valley is placed in Central California. Division of the Sierra Nevada and Eastern California regions into Northern, Central, and Southern California is even more problematic.
The region is highly diverse, but can be generally characterized by its beautiful coastline, redwood forests, Mediterranean to warm Temperate climate, and low population density (apart from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area, if those are being included). It is also a land of wine country, high mountains (the Sierra Nevada, the southern Cascade Range, and the Klamath Mountains), lakes, and windswept sagebrush steppe, in the northeast portion of the state.
Northern California's largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which includes the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and their many suburbs. The California state capital, Sacramento, is also in Northern California. Other cities in the region include Redding at the northern end of the Central Valley, and Eureka on the northern coast.
Northern vs. Southern California conflict
There is a great deal of rivalry between Northern and Southern California, and Northern Californians are often quick to distinguish the culture and geography of their region from stereotypes about "California" that are based mainly on media depictions of Southern California, particularly Los Angeles. Politically, there has been a great deal of tension about water rights issues involved in projects such as the California Aqueduct and Los Angeles Aqueduct (which export water from north to south), as well as the perceived dominance of Southern California in state politics due to the disproportionately large population of the Southern California counties. There have been proposals to divide the State of California into two or more states, however, these proposals have lacked any strong political support. Just before World War II, however, some parts of extreme Northern California unsuccessfully sought secession from California, to be incorporated as the State of Jefferson. Another common, albeit colloquial, definition of where this mythical division lies is where "the Dodger fans stop and the Giants fans start". This is in reference to the heated rivalry between two of the state's professional baseball teams the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants.
Regions
- San Francisco Bay Area
- *North Bay (Marin, Sonoma, Solano, and Napa counties)
- *East Bay - Oakland, Berkeley, and other cities
- *South Bay - roughly equivalent to Santa Clara Valley
- *The Peninsula - San Francisco and San Mateo County
- *Silicon Valley includes portions of the South Bay and the Peninsula
- Wine Country includes Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties
- Redwood Empire
- Salinas Valley, including Salinas and Greenfield
- Monterey, including Pacific Grove and Carmel
- Santa Cruz
- Gold Country within Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, and Tuolumne counties
- Shasta Cascade
- Emerald Triangle
- Sacramento Valley
- San Joaquin Valley, with the exception of Kern County
- Humboldt County including Eureka, Arcata, and McKinleyville
Higher education
- Academy of Art University
- California State University, Chico
- California State University, East Bay (formerly California State University, Hayward)
- California State University, Monterey Bay
- California State University, Sacramento
- College of the Redwoods
- Empire College
- Golden Gate University
- Holy Names University
- Humboldt State University
- John F. Kennedy University
- Mills College
- Saint Mary's College of California
- San Francisco State University
- San José State University
- Santa Clara University
- Santa Rosa Junior College
- Sonoma State University
- Stanford University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Merced
- University of California, San Francisco
- University of California, Santa Cruz
- University of San Francisco
- University of the Pacific
See also
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.