Ch. 1 Introduction

Hello, hi, and welcome to my very own blog about California's Central Valley for Geography 321OL. You may be asking yourself, "Why would anyone choose the Central Valley for their blog project?" When we think of California, attractions that pop into our head are obviously Hollywood and the Golden Gate Bridge, but the Central Valley is often overlooked. 

I spent my entire life living in the Central Valley and never once found beauty within it. To tell you the truth, I hated living there. With this project, I vow to create an appreciation for the land that raised me, and hopefully spark an interest in others to explore or at least think and know about California's Central Valley. 

Located smack dab in the middle of California, the Central Valley is surrounded by mountain ranges. 

The Central Valley is California's agricultural Heartland because of its long growing season and fertile soil. Because of this,  it has the largest single concentration of fruit and nut farms and vineyards in the United States. 

The Central Valley was seen by Spanish explorers in the 1500s but remained virtually uninhabited until the 1849 California gold rush.Now, about 6.5 million people live in the Central Valley, and it is the fastest growing region in all of California. "Primary sources of population growth are people migrating from the San Francisco Bay Area seeking lower housing costs, as well as immigration from Asia, Central America, Mexico, Ukraine and the rest of the former Soviet Union. (Wikipedia)" After English and Spanish, Hmong is the third most commonly spoken language.

Politically, the new residents of the Valley (as those who live there call it), many of whom were drawn to the area's cheaper housing, tend to be independent voters -- and that has turned this into one of California's only swing regions.