San Jose was once the capital of California but, now is the recognized capital of Silicon Valley. San Jose is located at the south end - the marshy shore - of San Francisco Bay. To the east of San Jose is the Diablo Range, to the west the Santa Cruz mountains. Still a major agricultural region, the San Jose area is the leading high-tech center in the United States, notably in aerospace and computer technologies. San Jose is the home of Intel, world leader in manufacture of microprocessors. Also located in San Jose are Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, the computer developer Sun Microsystems, the Lockheed Martin missile and space division, IBM, and National Semiconductor.
Native American Ohlone people occupied the San Jose region for more than a thousand years before the Spanish arrived in 1777. The first white settlement, founded by Jose Joaquin Morago, was a military supply base called El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, named for Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary. After California joined the United States in 1846, this city grew rapidly--primarily because of the discovery of gold two years later in Sierra Nevada. The influx of more and more people and more and more industry ultimately created a pollution problem. To control the growth, an environmental policy was adopted in 1973.
Today the city points to McEnery Convention Center as the hallmark of a revitalization program initiated in the 1980s a cost of $1.5 billion in public and private funds. A light-rail transit system links the outlying areas with the inner-city shopping, restaurants, and entertainment. The downtown transit mall, with its fountains and quaint street lights, is shaded by sycamore trees.
Other points of interest are the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, located in the plaza park created when the city was founded; the murals and stained-glass windows in St. Joseph's Cathedral; the Hensley District of Victorian homes; nearby Stanford University; and the Lick Observatory. The city's wide range of cultural attractions is reflected in the Children's Discovery Museum, the Japanese Friendship Garden and Teahouse, the Chinese Cultural Garden, the Egyptian Museum, the American Museum of Quilts, the beautiful public rose gardens, and the groves of redwood trees in nearby Sanborn-Skyline County Park.
City Description by Gene Williamson
These United States - Resources and Related Information for California.
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