San Jose

Sister cities

• Guadalajara
• San José
• Dublin
• Pune
• Yekaterinburg
• Oeiras
• Okayama
• Veracruz
• Tainan

History

San Jose, along with most of the Santa Clara Valley, has been home to the Tamien tribe of the Ohlone people since around 4,000 BC. The Tamien spoke Tamyen language of the Ohlone language family. During the era of Spanish colonization and the subsequent building of Spanish missions in California, the Tamien people's lives changed dramatically. From 1777 onward, most of the Tamien people were forcibly enslaved at Mission Santa Clara de Asís or Mission San José where they were baptized and educated to be Catholic neophytes, also known as Mission Indians. This continued until the mission was secularized by the Mexican Government in 1833. A large majority of the Tamien died either from disease in the missions, or as a result of the state sponsored genocide. Some surviving families remained intact, migrating to Santa Cruz after their ancestral lands were granted to Spanish and Mexican Immigrants. California was claimed as part of the Spanish Empire in 1542, when explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo charted the Californian coast. During this time Alta California and the Baja California peninsula were administered together as Province of Las Californias. For nearly 200 years, the Californias remained a distant frontier region largely controlled by the numerous Native Nations and largely ignored by the government of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico City. Shifting power dynamics in North America—including the British/American victory and acquisition of North America, east of the Mississippi following the 1763 Treaty of Paris, as well as the start of Russian colonization of northwestern North America— prompted Spanish/Mexican authorities to sponsor the Portolá Expedition to survey Northern California in 1769. In 1776, the Californias were included as part of the Captaincy…

Geography

San Jose is located within the Santa Clara Valley, in the southern part of the Bay Area in Northern California. The northernmost portion of San Jose touches San Francisco Bay at Alviso, though most of the city lies away from the bayshore. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , making it the fourth-largest city in California by land area (after Los Angeles, San Diego, and California City). The most serious earthquake, in 1906, damaged many buildings in San Jose as described earlier. Earlier significant quakes rocked the city in 1839, 1851, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1868, and 1891. The Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 also did some damage to parts of the city. San Jose's expansion was made by the design of "Dutch" Hamann, the City Manager from 1950 to 1969. During his administration, with his staff referred to as "Dutch's Panzer Division", the city annexed property 1,389 times, growing the city from , absorbing the communities named above, changing their status to "neighborhoods." Sales taxes were a chief source of revenue. Hamann would determine where major shopping areas would be, and then annex narrow bands of land along major roadways leading to those locations, pushing "tentacles" or "finger areas" across the Santa Clara Valley and, in turn, walling off the expansion of adjacent communities. During his reign, it was said the City Council would vote according to Hamann's nod. In 1963, the State of California imposed Local Agency Formation Commissions statewide, but largely to try to maintain order with San Jose's aggressive growth. Eventually the political forces against growth grew as local neighborhoods bonded together to elect their own candidates, ending Hamann's influence and…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  51,797
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  50,642
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  47,120
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  43,867
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  41,578
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  34,216
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  34,191
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  33,056

Largest nearby schools

• Evergreen Valley High
  High · San Jose · 2,767 students · 24.3:1 ratio
• Independence High
  High · San Jose · 2,517 students · 22.1:1 ratio
• Silver Creek High
  High · San Jose · 2,315 students · 24.6:1 ratio
• Santa Teresa High
  High · San Jose · 2,196 students · 22.6:1 ratio
• Branham High
  High · San Jose · 1,990 students · 24.3:1 ratio
• Piedmont Hills High
  High · San Jose · 1,925 students · 22.9:1 ratio
• Santa Clara High
  High · Santa Clara · 1,849 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• Leigh High
  High · San Jose · 1,812 students · 24.8:1 ratio