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California
The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850
California holds more people than any other state — roughly 39 million — and more variety of terrain than most countries. Its 840-mile Pacific coastline runs from foggy redwood forests in the north to the surf and sprawl of the south. Inland, the Coast Ranges give way to the vast Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions on Earth, then climb again into the granite wall of the Sierra Nevada. At 163,695 square miles (423,967 km²), it is the third-largest state by area.
The extremes sit remarkably close together. Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet (4,421 m), stands less than 90 miles from Badwater Basin in Death Valley, the lowest and hottest place in North America at 282 feet below sea level. The San Andreas Fault, where the Pacific and North American plates grind past each other, runs the length of the state and keeps it earthquake country. Mediterranean climate along the coast gives way to true desert in the southeast.
That same geography drives California's defining tension: water. Most of the rain and snow falls in the north and the mountains, while most of the people and farms lie in the dry south and the valley. An elaborate system of dams, aqueducts, and canals moves water hundreds of miles to make the modern state work. Drought, wildfire, and a warming climate now test that system harder each decade.
California's scale shows in its economy as much as its land — were it a country, it would rank among the largest in the world, powered by technology in Silicon Valley, entertainment in Los Angeles, trade through its great ports, and agriculture in the Central Valley. From Gold Rush statehood in 1850 it has grown into the demographic and cultural heavyweight of the American West.
Economy
California has the largest economy of any U.S. state by a wide margin — were it a country it would rank among the largest economies in the world. Its output is unusually diverse: technology and venture capital centered on Silicon Valley, entertainment and media in Los Angeles, the busiest container ports in the nation at Los Angeles and Long Beach, aerospace and biotech, and the most productive agriculture in the country across the Central Valley. That breadth makes the state both a national economic engine and a bellwether for new industries.
Politics
As the most populous state, California sends the largest delegation to Congress and casts the most electoral votes — 54 — and it has leaned strongly Democratic in statewide and presidential elections since the 1990s. The state is also known for an unusually direct brand of politics through its citizen ballot-initiative system, which lets voters decide questions from taxes to social policy at the polls, sometimes reshaping state law over the legislature's head.