California's Vast Regional Differences Explained

this is a picture taken in Canada and this is a picture taken in Mexico the geographic differences between the two countries which sit 1144 miles or 1841 kilometers apart are obvious at first sight these two pictures show a striking similarity to the last two but not only were they taken in these same countries one another but in the same state California the Golden State is an economic powerhouse a center of population a place whose culture is familiar to people all over the world but the similarities this US state has two entire countries don't end there they're perhaps best exemplified by the vast variety of regions within it California's regional differences are so great that in 2017 a venture capitalist named Tim Draper launched a movement which ultimately failed to give the state's residents more influence by dividing it into three different states with the incredibly uncreated names of Northern California Southern California and California today I will attempt to explain what I see as California's major regions and delve into the geography history and culture that makes them unique hello and welcome to that is interesting I'm your host Carter today California's vast regional differences explain I will begin with a brief disclaimer there are varying opinions and what the regions of California are and various groups have their own listings and map to them the regions I'm going to discuss are based on my own experience and opinion and our approach from a solely geographic standpoint as opposed to me clumping various counties together and breaking them up on County lines and as such the population figures I provide are all rough estimates some of you will probably disagree with me on the specifics of what falls in what region and if that's the case my apologies on my map I've identified nine different regions the northern coast the Cascades the Sierra Nevada the Central Valley the Bay Area Central Coast the desert the Channel Islands in the southern coast let's get started the first region I've set aside is the northern coast it stretches from the northern tip the various valleys who's rivers flown to San Francisco Bay to the Oregon border and from the Pacific Ocean in the West the Central Valley in the East poem to an approximate population of just 327 thousand people this region is wild and mostly uninhabited most of this land is taken up by mountains consisting on the coast ranges in the Klamath mountains the southern part of the region is the most populated homes a little scattered valleys that make the existence of small towns possible some of Northern California's largest population centers like Ukiah and wellit's sit in these inland valleys it is home to Clear Lake the largest freshwater lake is completely inside California the area around the lake is one of the region's major centers of population with thousands of people living on its shores further to the north the inland valleys are replaced by the tall cold and rainy Klamath mountains and most of the land is set aside as parks and national forests the lack of flat land and the wild nature of the region makes the northern coast difficult to inhabit giving it its small population while California is known for being dry the northern coast feels more like a part of Oregon or Washington State and part of California on the dense forests enormous redwoods snow-capped peaks and wide raging rivers well I've mostly talk about the inland part of the region so far it revolves around the coast for most of its population resides the highway accessing the region stays mostly near the coast and it provides a reliably flat area between the mountains and the sea or towns can be constructed and or brag and cross the city which sits just 70 miles or 27 kilometers from Oregon making it one of California's northernmost towns however by far the region's largest center of population is the area around humble bed Humboldt Bay is one of the west coast's largest ports and the mouth of the nearby eel River provides the area with a relatively large expanse of flat land suitable for agriculture and settlement these ideal conditions give the area around Humboldt Bay a population of 80 thousand people or 25% of the northern coasts entire population most of whom live in the town of Eureka geographically the northern coast is incredibly unique the climate far different than other parts of the state it's also isolated and cut off with potential tourist attractions like redwood national park sitting nearly six hours from San Francisco most people move to California to be where things happen and the remote northern coast doesn't attract people seeking in LA or San Francisco giving any wild and isolated feeling unique from much of the state up next are the cascades if anything more remote and sparsely populated then the north of coast with just around 130,000 people living in the entire region population that wouldn't even be considered a city any much of the state the region is dominated by the Cascades a range of incredibly tall mountains that stretch from California into Canada including a variety of enormous volcanoes such as Mount lassen Mount Shasta Mount Adams on the hood mount st. Helens and Mount Rainier while the region extends across different states and even countries I'm gonna focus solely on the portion within California unsurprisingly these enormous mountains are not easy to inhabit leaving to the small population I described earlier while the north coast has an ocean that can lead to some suitable places to live the Cascades have no such coastline within the region are two very different types of geography the town of Redding in my opinion marks the northern tip of the Central Valley but farther north the Sacramento River one of the state's main arteries continues cutting through the mountains from its headwaters of mouth this part of the Cascades is the region's population center Houma towns like wired Riga and Dunsmuir been fed by the river large reservoirs like Shasta Lake and Trinity Lake are popular recreation areas Mount Shasta draws tourists for skiing the i-5 the west coast's main highway passes through it making this section of the region along the Sacramento River far from empty but to the east of the mountains lies an area with far less visitors this is a sparsely populated land of deserts forests and grasslands home to immense lava beds and glacial lakes that are enormous in the winter but dried up in the summer this section of the Cascades is he part of the Great Basin the largest desert in America which encompasses large swaths of Nevada Utah and or D while drier this part of the region is flatter and is home to towns like Susanville which are among the region's largest similar to the northern coast the Cascades are largely unexplored by visitors and due to their geography have a small population keeping the region of mostly wild place the same cannot be said about the next region on this list the Central Valley stretching from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the South it is 442 miles long or 711 kilometres it is home to 6.5 million people it is fed by two river systems the Sacramento River in the north and the San Joaquin River in the south the two rivers meet in the middle forming a vast swamp like California Delta the Delta then comes together to form the wide Carquinez Strait which then empties into the San Francisco Bay one of the largest estuaries and pest ports in North America and one of the largest centres of population in the United States the Central Valley takes up 11% of the land area of the entire state and is a major center of agriculture with over 50% of all fruits and vegetables in the entire country coming from the Central Valley harvested mostly by poor migrant workers the reason for its enormous agricultural productivity comes from its geography the valley is huge and flat and all the snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada sits yeast forms many large rivers which feeding the valleys crops northern half called a Sacramento Valley is much greener than the southern half the San Joaquin Valley where rivers often dry up high temperatures have become in common and desertification is beginning to take place the Central Valley is the start of an enormous canal called the California aqueducts one of the largest in the country which carries water from the Delta 701 miles or 1129 kilometers away to Los Angeles it is also home to an interesting geographic anomaly well it is for the most part completely flat a quick look at a map you will find these Sutter buttes the world's smallest mountain range which are all that remains of an ancient eroded volcano a tiny clump of Peaks sitting smack-dab in the middle of an otherwise pancake flat Valley due to its flat agricultural nature and relative abundance of fresh water the Central Valley is a major population center in the state home to 6.5 million people many live in cities such as Sacramento Fresno and Bakersfield the fourth fifth and sixth largest urban areas in the state respectively after Los Angeles the Bay Area and San Diego often overshadowed by the sheer size of California's other major cities Sacramento would probably be the largest city in a state had it been in any number of other states it is the 26th largest city in the country and holds 2.4 million people in its greater area and is similar in size the cities like Denver st. Louis Pittsburgh Orlando San Antonio Portland in Las Vegas it is also the state capital and being the seed of government to the most populous state in America gives it a high degree of influence sprawling cities like Fresno and Bakersfield are growing rapidly and nearing 1 million residents putting them on the path to becoming major cities to the east of the Central Valley or the Sierra Nevada a tall mountain range stretching along the valleys length home to a small population of approximately 150 thousand people the Sierras are obviously difficult to inhabit their homes have major mountain peaks that is Mount the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States as well as stunning landscapes preserved in national parks like Kings Canyon Sequoia and of course the world renowned to Yosemite while sparsely populated they play a very important role in California's economy with Sequoia alone drawing 1.5 million visitors each year Yosemite 4 million in Lake Tahoe is stunning 20 million people annually it also feeds the Central Valley with snowmelt from its high peaks feeding the state's major rivers and providing water and food to its residents the mountains are dotted with dams as well creating reservoirs that are popular for recreation and giving large numbers of people electricity in drinking water the region's major center of population is Lake Tahoe about 50,000 people live on the shores of California's largest freshwater lake a large percentage of the entire region's population residing in towns like South Lake Tahoe like I mentioned earlier it is a major tourist destination sometimes holding an astonishing 300,000 people in a single day the Sierra Nevada well home to not many residents is a beautiful region well deserving of the many visitors it receives and plays an essential role in the state most of the snow melt from the Sierras after flowing to the Central Valley winds up in one place the San Francisco Bay the center of the next region on the list that they area home to seven point nine seven five million people the water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin River is carved out this enormous estuary which is one of America's best ports this vast body of water is connected to the Pacific by a relatively thin straight called the Golden Gate spanned by the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge a destination for immigration and travel during the California Gold Rush the Bay Area is home to several major cities oakland sits on the eastern side of the bay and is a major port city the port of oakland being a ninth largest port in the entire country on the bays southern tip is San Jose the sprawling center of the Silicon Valley in the heart of America tech industry with major companies like Google Apple Facebook and Netflix having headquarters in your by the heart of the Bay Area is San Francisco although San Jose technically has a larger population San Francisco inhabits a much smaller area give me an incredibly high population density and allowing it to act as the region's city center with San Jose Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area often considered suburbs of San Francisco not the other way around ideologically very liberal San Francisco and the Bay Area contribute heavily to California's role as a democratic stronghold and being the fourth largest city in the u.s. it has a strong influence on American culture and society the Bay Area is home to numerous unique islands the large alameda island was a peninsula that was artificially separated from mainland oakland Alcatraz is the site of an infamous federal prison Treasure Island is a man-made island built to house the World's Fair in Angel Island was a major West Coast immigration center similar to Ellis Island in New York and was the point of entry for millions of Asian immigrants to the United States the northern part of the bay is more rural whom the famous wine-growing areas such as Napa and Sonoma Valley stretching from where the suburbs of San Francisco and to where the suburbs of Los Angeles began is the Central Coast lying in the coast ranges is mountainous but unlike the northern coast has warmer weather and more flat land with many valleys sitting between the region's numerous mountain ranges leading to a population of 1.67 7 million people the northern half is dominated by the Silvius Valley the center of agriculture known as the salad bowl of the world the town of Salinas the Valley's largest city is one of the largest in the entire region on the other side of the mountains from the Salinas Valley is Big Sur a stretch of coastline home to groves of redwoods and scenic bridges and roads where the mountains dive dramatically into the sea one of the most famous places in California the town of Monterey sits on Monterey Bay an enormous body of water where the Salinas River meets the ocean as a major fishing town that attracts large numbers of visitors at the other end of Big Sur is Morro Bay in estuary enclosed by a peninsula covered in sand dunes and morro rock an enormous volcanic plug further south the region consists of agricultural cities like santa maria is a major center of wine growing the coastal town of Santa Barbara is one of the region's largest and is a major tourist attraction renowned for its beaches spanish-style architecture and mountains sitting beside the sea further south towns like Ventura and Oxnard are regional population centers that are becoming more and more like satellite cities of Los Angeles across a body of water called a Santa Barbara Channel from Santa Barbara lie an archipelago called the Channel Islands not to be confused with the islands of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel they stretch all the way from Santa Barbara to San Diego and our home to just 4,600 people the four islands near Santa Barbara San Miguel Island Santa Rosa Island Santa Cruz Island in Anacapa Island make up the Channel Islands National Park and Santa Cruz Island is the largest island in California and the eighth largest in the country outside of Alaska Hawaii in the US territories further south are another group of for the tiny Santa Barbara Island is also part of the National Park the far-flung San Nicholas and San Clemente Islands are owned by the US Navy and her training centers for Navy SEALs together home to a small population of just 500 military personnel the most well known of the islands is Santa Catalina Island frequently referred to as just Catalina the island is not far from LA it is home to the only two towns in the region the tiny two harbors which spans a tiny isthmus on the island and they much larger Avalon resort town home to eighty percent of the region's population popular getaway for LA's wealthy sitting on a small Bay with ferry service back and forth through the city not far from the Channel Islands is the southern coast which sits between the coast ranges in the Pacific Ocean home to twenty-two point one two eight million people or fifty-six percent of California's entire population it consists of the state's largest and third largest cities Los Angeles and San Diego the southern coast is what most people think of when they hear the word California hot weather clear skies palm trees beaches Hollywood surfing and relaxation and draws nearly 100 million tourists every year or about one third of the entire population of the United States if the Bay Area is the heart of the American tech industry Los Angeles holds its entertainment industry a center of filmmaking in social media and home to eighteen point seven nine million people in its greater area it is a second largest city in the United States sitting to the south San Diego provides the Bay Area with another port city to reckon with along with Humboldt Bay and San Francisco Bay it is one of California's best harbors these two major cities make the southern coast one of the most diverse regions in an incredibly diverse state the southern half of California home to high percentages of Latinos just on the other side of the coast ranges from these sprawling cities is the final region I'll be discussing the desert actually consisting of two different deserts the Sonoran and Mojave the desert region is home to about 1.3 million people most of its largest cities like Lancaster Palmdale in Victorville by just an hour or so from Los Angeles but the further out you go the more remote things get and national parks like Joshua Tree and Death Valley are pristine examples of untouched desert wilderness Palm Springs is a major resort destination and the accidentally created Salton Sea is the largest lake in California although its water is completely undrinkable numerous air force bases fit the desert as well and the massive Colorado River provides a strange sight among the incredibly dry landscape this fast desert stretches far outside of California the states like Nevada Utah in Arizona and it's a neighboring Mexican overall the vast differences across California shaped by its regions make it an incredibly interesting state in a very unique part of the US thank you for watching this video and I hope you learn something new subscribe for more content like this I cover the countries cities people and places of the world and beyond these videos will leave you saying that is interesting [Music]

Channel: That Is Interesting

Views: 160,797

Rating: 4.9356799 out of 5

Keywords: California, regions, different, san francisco, la, los angeles, northern california, southern california, vs, desert, sierra nevada, channel islands, central coast

Id: wxsdXM3pWy4

Length: 19min 38sec (1178 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020