Schülervortrag: San Francisco
San Francisco is after Los Angeles and San Diego the third greatest town in the federal state of California. It is
situated in the north of a
hilly peninsula which seperates the Pacific Ocean from the San Francisco Bay. The north of San Francisco is limited through the Golden Gate. The original inhabitants and owners were the Costanoan Indians. Not until 9 a
group of Spaniards discovered the San Francisco Bay. In 6 a village named Yerba Buena was
founded which was taken by the Mexicans later. But when the USA bought Yerba Buena from the Mexicans for
in , the name was changed into San Francisco. The first boom which S F. experienced was the gold
rush in the year . On th January James Marshall discovered gold in Coloma. When the outside world heard that thousands of people streamed to S.F. to continue their travel at the Sacramento River. To the end of the year
1849 the city of gold grew to
0 people. In 0 S F. became the capital of California. Another recovery was the completition of the Central Pacific Railroad in 9 which drove from the east coast to S.F.. Until 0 the small settlement grew to a
city
with 0
people. The 18th April was the blackest day in the history of the city. An earthquake distroyed a
big
part of S F . Today there live 0
people. 0
blacks there are many Asians
whose part of the whole population is higher than in other American cities: 0 Japanese, 0 Filipinos and
85.000 Chinese who built Chinatown.San Francisco`s Chinatown is the greatest home for Chinese outside Asia.Besides Chinatown is the most densely populated part of S F.In S F. you don`t need your car.The most
important means of public transport are the buses,but the most famous are the cable cars.The first cable car was inserted in 1873.The airport in the south of the city is one of the greatest airports of the United States.S F. has a mild
climate.No snow in the winter and in the summer it isn t very hot.The wormest month is September with maximum
temperatures of 3 degrees.A peculiarity of S.F. are the fogs,which has been forming along the coast.To noon the city and the Golden Gate Bridge are hidden in sea-fog.The bridge was opened in 7 after 4
years of difficult construction.Today it`s the second-longest bridge with 8 km and you need one hour to go
over the bridge.Another
sight of S F. is Alcatraz-Island.The prison island lies two kilometers away from the coast in the bay.Since 3 you
can visit the prison.The ten highest buildings of S.F. are in the Financial Center.Outside of this part no one is
allowed to
build any other skyscrapers.The two highest buildings are the Transamerica Pyramid (260m) and the
Bank of America (232m).That s the greatest bank of the United States.In contrast with Los Angeles S F. was never a good industrial town.But the tourism is very important for the economy.S F. is one of the most popular Olestinations
of the USA.
