|
About San Diego
San Diego calls itself "America's Finest City," a difficult slogan to live up to, but one you'll likely agree with if for no other reason than the city's marvelous weather. This is sunny Southern California at its best; the region centered about downtown very rarely sees temperatures above 80 in summer and below 40 in winter--courtesy of prevailing Pacific Ocean breezes--and only about 10 inches of annual rainfall.
But while catching some rays on one of San Diego's postcard-beautiful beaches is mandatory, it's certainly not the only way to enjoy your stay. You could spend an entire day just wandering through Balboa Park even if you didn't step inside a single one of its 15 museums; their ornate Spanish-style exteriors are worth a look just by themselves. And then there's the park's outstanding San Diego Zoo with its lovely, leafy habitats designed to appeal to both animal residents and human visitors alike.
Hiking along Point Loma's bluffs in Cabrillo National Monument will make your heart beat faster either due to the exercise or the stunning vistas; take your pick. And you won't have to shun the sun just to go shopping either: Such locales as Seaport Village, Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp Quarter let you savor San Diego's balmy climate while souvenir hunting in an eye-pleasing, alfresco setting.
So, what about the claim of being "America's Finest City"? San Diegans might be accused of excessive pride if they didn't have Mother Nature on their side.
San Diego may well be the prototypical Southern California city. Visually, it brings to life the timeless images evoked by the Beach Boys' 1965 pop classic, "California Girls": sunshine, sand and palm trees. The weather is close to ideal--sunny and mild to warm practically year-round. Furthermore, the greater San Diego area is blessed with an abundance of scenic environments in which to enjoy all this climatic good fortune--from cliffs that overlook long beaches to wilderness areas such as the Anza-Borrego Desert, where spring brings an explosion of wildflowers (weather permitting).
Clean and casual, San Diego has a contemporary West Coast sophistication that belies humble beginnings. Reminders of the past, however, are strongly evident. Spanish influence is exemplified by the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture found throughout Balboa Park, the city's cultural centerpiece. An international flavor prevails as well, due to a strategic location facing the Pacific Rim and close proximity to the border town of Tijuana.
Long before the first Europeans arrived, the California coast was inhabited by peoples who had probably migrated from the Asian continent by way of the Bering Strait. They subsisted on fish, acorns and wild game, developing their own hunting, gathering and farming techniques. The native tribes of Southern California were remarkably diverse in language and customs, and their peak population may have reached 100,000.
Portugal was the first European nation to actively pursue overseas exploration and colonization. On June 27, 1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo set sail under the auspices of the Spanish Crown from Barra de Navidad, Mexico, a tiny port on Mexico's Pacific coast near Manzanillo.
Exactly 3 months later, Cabrillo and his men brought their open-decked vessels, the San Salvador and the Victoria, into the harbor of San Diego. He named it San Miguel in honor of the Feast Day of San Miguel, celebrated on Sept. 28.
The city's present name came from San Diego de Alcalá de Henares, a Spanish monk after whom the flagship of Spaniard Sebastian Vizcaíno, a later explorer who charted the coastline in 1602, was christened. Vizcaíno erased many of the place names Cabrillo had established. Despite the new appellations, the Spanish Crown all but ignored the region until it was ordered colonized in 1768.
The following year, Gaspar de Portolá arrived to establish a presidio, or military fortress, in Mission Valley near present-day Old Town. In his company was Father Junípero Serra, a Franciscan priest who founded the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, California's first mission (it was moved 5 years later to a more advantageous location several miles away). The mission was intended to establish a Spanish presence in the region. From there Serra ventured as far north as Santa Barbara and founded the first nine of a string of missions that served as the cultural and economic lifeblood of the territory.
By providing a safe refuge for travelers, the missions encouraged further exploration of the land and became links in a trade route between Mexico and San Francisco. They also--in the form of religious virtue--managed to bring a measure of civility to the prevailing isolation and harsh conditions. In all, 21 missions were founded and run by the Franciscans, and some 30,000 of California's native population tended their extensive agricultural and livestock holdings.
|
|
