When was the mojave desert discovered

San Francisco Bay Area 5. High Sierra 6. Central Valley 7. Central Coast 8. Deserts 9. Inland Empire Los Angeles County Orange County San Diego County. Regions Scroll down to explore the twelve regions of California. View more. The largest city, Eureka, is roughly a 5-hour drive north of San Francisco—but what a drive: see lush wine country, charming hamlets, spouting whales, and breathtaking sunsets.

Spotlight: Mendocino. While gold is still found in the region, new riches include top museums and art in Sacramento, the state capital, plus whitewater rafting, tucked-away towns, farm-fresh dining, and award-winning wines. Highlights Spotlight: Sacramento. Highlights Spotlight: San Francisco. Spotlight: Sonoma County. Spotlight: Napa Valley. Spotlight: Berkeley. Spotlight: Oakland. Spotlight: Santa Cruz. Spotlight: San Jose. Spotlight: Silicon Valley.

In winter, enjoy snow sports; in summer, go hiking, mountain biking, fishing, or boating. Highlights Spotlight: Lake Tahoe. Spotlight: Yosemite National Park. Spotlight: Mammoth Lakes. Central Valley Running right down the middle of California, this broad region contains some of most productive farmland in the world. Wine country around Lodi features big, bold reds. Further south, the Fresno has a lively arts scene.

Highlights Davis. Lodi Wine Country. Central Coast In this narrow strip of coastal hills and valleys, discover romantic towns, including Carmel by the Sea, historic Monterey, and elegant Santa Barbara, nicknamed 'the American Riviera. Spotlight: Big Sur. Spotlight: Hearst Castle. Spotlight: San Luis Obispo County. Spotlight: Pinnacles National Park. Spotlight: Santa Barbara. Spotlight: Channel Islands National Park.

Deserts This dramatic region takes up the southeastern half of the state. Remarkable desert parklands, including Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Anza-Borrego, provide an extraordinary chance to explore, while the oasis-like allure of Palm Springs, 3 hours northeast of San Diego, offers sunny resort-style getaways, with golf, tennis, spas, and high-end shopping.

Highlights Spotlight: Greater Palm Springs. Highlights Temecula Valley Wine Country. Big Bear Lake. Lake Arrowhead. Here, movie stars really do work in Hollywood, play in the surf at Malibu, and shop in Beverly Hills.

Looping freeways make the car king, but the region also has a surprisingly good network of buses and light rail—a hassle-free way to explore.

Highlights Spotlight: Los Angeles. Spotlight: Hollywood. Spotlight: Universal Studios Hollywood. Spotlight: Santa Monica. Newport Beach has dazzling yachts, Huntington Beach has iconic surfing, and Costa Mesa beckons with top shopping. Winter and spring storms come from the Pacific, while the low humidity summer results in storms that draw moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The Mojave region is bordered by lots of mountains, which create a "rain shadow".

Since the Majove Desert is a rain shadow desert, many of its storms come with lots of clouds and wind but less precipitation. Although the Mojave region is a desert and experiences very little precipitation—making it hard for organisms to sustain life—nearly two thousand plant species can be found in the Mojave desert. Most interestingly, about a quarter of these plants are specific to the Mojave Desert alone. The Joshua Tree for example cannot be found anywhere but the Mojave Desert.

Species that only live in one location on Earth are known as "endemic" species. There are a lot of different animal species that manage to survive in the Mojave Desert despite the lack of water and sparce vegetation in some areas. Reptiles like the desert horned lizards feast on the different insects in the area while the more venomous western daimondback rattlesnake feasts on small critters.

Little creatures like the kangaroo rat have to watch out for so many predators; since they are on the run in such a hot habitat, kangaroo rats don't sweat because they can't afford to lose water. Cougars prefer to feast on larger animals when they can, but occasionally have to settle for small critters if they can't find a filling mule deer or desert pronghorn antelope.

Some animals have a slight advantage from the sky; a red-tailed hawk has a much easier time avoiding predators and catching prey. Similar to the plants of the Mojave region, there are also lots of endemic animal species that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. There has been a long history of people in the Mojave region.

Despite the consistenet presence of humans for over 20, years, the Mojave Desert has managed to keep a relatively natural condition because so much of the area is too difficult for humans to inhabit, due to lack of water and extreme heat. When people first arrived in the Mojave Desert the region was wetter and cooler.

Native tribes used rivers and lakes like the Colorado river to sustain life. The native tribes must have been incredibly resourceful in order to live in the Mojave region; this is proven by their ability to make pottery from clay and crushed sandstone. Later on human presence in the Mojave Desert grew because gold was discovered in Northern California. At first, the Mojave Desert was just a step along the way to mine for gold, and the travelers had to prove themselves on the path.

Due to the lack of water, the heat, and the rough terrain, the Mojave Desert was a difficult route. When the gold ran out in the first mines, many of the miners and their families returned to the Mojave Desert to develop gold and silver mining towns. This cycle continued as new mines were found and then used up. The towns that the miners built would be left as ghost towns when the miners moved away.

Nowadays there are over one million people living in the Mojave Desert and even more live around it. Mojave tribal peoples were concentrated along the Colorado River and the Mojave trail became their main trading route. Other intrepid explorers would follow Garces, including Jedediah Smith in and John Fremont in Concern abounded about tribal attacks on the mail carriers who traveled the Mojave Road. During the s government outposts were established providing protection for the mail wagons.

During this same era, gold fever struck California. The General Mining Law of permitted individuals to stake a claim on an area of land where a mineral deposit was discovered. Copper, iron, gold and silver mines rapidly became established in the Mojave. In , on the eastern side of the Providence Mountains, silver was discovered in the Bonanza King Mine. Ranchers quickly became established in Mojave as well. Mojave's history is as varied and colorful as the individuals who staked their claim in the desert.