California was born of a cataclysmic, Pacific-driven shift of tectonic plates (see Chapter 1). Ever since that geologic event eons ago no other factor has had the explanatory force of that ocean basin in shaping historical developments in what much later became the Golden State. As has been shown, the Pacific figured prominently in the earliest human seaborne migration to California's landmass, in the European encounter and colonization of that landmass during the age of sail, in the province's maritime fur and hide-and-tallow trades, in its once world-dominant whaling industry and later commercial fishing enterprises, in the shipboard transport of gold and gold-seekers, in the conception and construction of the first transcontinental railroad as a Golden State pathway to Asian markets, in the export of California's agricultural staples and oil, in the state's tourism and recreation, in the global reach of its high-tech businesses, in its containerized transoceanic commerce, in the rise of its "Gold Coast" conservatism, in its strategic role in America's overseas wars and defense posture since 1898, and more.
By the late twentieth century the Pacific world had replaced the Atlantic community as the epicenter of the global economy. Some analysts project that half of the world's economic growth in the early twenty-first century will occur in East Asia. This Pacific ascendancy has been under way for more than a century. That said, how does California's most recent past - especially regarding immigration, politics, economics, the environment, and international security - fit into the unfolding drama of the world's historic Pacific shift?
Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California, First Edition. Thomas J. Osborne. © 2013 Thomas J. Osborne. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Timeline
1990 Dr. Chang-Lin Tien is appointed chancellor of UC Berkeley, becoming the first Chinese American to head a major American research university
1998 Voters pass Proposition 227, an initiative measure outlawing bilingual education and requiring English-only instruction except in stipulated cases
2000 Latinos/as constitute 16 percent of California’s electorate
2001 The Stanford Report (September 5, 2001) newsletter finds: “California’s universities and research institutions claim more Nobel laureates than any state or country in the world”
2002 The state legislature passes the Clean Cars Law requiring that all new cars sold in California have to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2016
2003 In a statewide election, Governor Gray Davis is recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger is chosen as Davis’s replacement
Governor Schwarzenegger signs an executive order repealing restoration of the full vehicle license fee and later borrows money from an education fund to operate the government; the repeal costs the state more than $4 billion in revenue
2005 Antonio Villaraigosa is installed as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles in 133 years Los Angeles-Long Beach port trade with Pacific Rim nations amounts to $300 billion California has more military installations and personnel than any other state in the nation Disneyland in Hong Kong, China, opens to the public
2007 The state establishes the Water Quality Monitoring Council to check water quality and report its findings to the public via a website
2008 According to a Time magazine cover story, “California’s wipeout [recession-ridden] economy attracted more venture capital than the rest of the nation combined”
In San Marino, the Huntington Library’s long-awaited and highly publicized Chinese Garden of Flowing Fragrance opens to the public
Proposition 8 narrowly passes, amending the state constitution to declare that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”
2009 Los Angeles financier Donald Tang founds CSIP Group, a China-focused cross-border financial services firm, headquartered in Los Angeles
The U. S. Department of Commerce ranks California’s nation-sized $1.8 trillion economy as the eighth largest in the world, just behind Italy and ahead of Brazil and Spain
(Continued)
2010 Members of UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union are charged with disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren; afterward, the university suspends the MSU for one year, followed by a probationary year, and disciplines the students involved in the disturbance
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, California’s population is 37.3 million people (most of whom live near or along the Pacific Coast); Hispanics comprise 37.6 percent of the state’s population; Asians account for 13 percent and are designated as California’s fastest-growing ethnic group
The California State Lands Commission issues a report saying that most of the state’s 40 ports and shipping hubs are not prepared for the expected 16-inch rise in sea levels by 2050
California’s budget deficit reaches $25.4 billion, and its unemployment rate is 12.4 percent (the national rate is 10 percent)
Voters pass Proposition 25, which ends the previously required two-thirds legislative majority to pass budgets; hereafter, a simple majority will suffice
2011 Assembly Bill 131 (known as the California Dream Act) passes, enabling high-achieving undocumented students in higher education to apply for and receive scholarships drawn from non-state funds and, beginning January 1, 2013, for financial aid partially derived from state funds
The multi-billion-doUar restaurant chain, Panda Restaurant Group, Inc., is headquartered in Rosemead and operates at more than 2,000 locations nationwide, employing more than 17,000 workers
In Brown v. Plata the U. S. Supreme Court holds that California’s prison conditions are so appalling as to be in violation of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, outlawing “cruel and unusual punishment”
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa leads a city trade delegation to Asian countries resulting in transpacific business partnerships and Hyundai Merchant Marine agreeing to build a new terminal at the Port of Los Angeles
San Pedro Bay shipping complex surges back from the recession, handling 20.3 percent more cargo in 2011 than the year before
With a market valuation of $350 billion, Apple becomes the world’s leader in computer products
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announce that America’s foreign and strategic policy is undergoing a major Pacific “shift” since that ocean basin is now the center of the global economy
Nationwide, California ranks low - 43rd in 2011 - in spending per pupil
2012 Trucks entering and leaving the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex must adhere to Federal Clean Truck Emissions Standards or be banned from the harbor.
Chinese Americans Edwin Lee and Jean Quan are serving as mayors respectively of San Francisco and Oakland; Quan is the first Asian American woman to head a major city in the United States
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple Incorporated, with a market valuation of $500 billion, becomes the most valuable corporation in the world, surpassing Exxon Mobil
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX completes the world’s first private industry-sponsored space mission, docking at the orbiting International Space Station 250 miles above northwest Australia
World History
