San Francisco

San Francisco (pop. 728,900), western California city and seaport on the Pacific coast, on a peninsula between the Pacific and San Francisco Bay. Its economy is based on shipping and shipbuilding, with exports of cotton, grain, lumber, and petroleum products. It is also the financial, cultural, and communications center for the Northwest Coast. The city, noted for its cosmopolitan charm, has many tourist attractions including cable cars, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, the Nob Hill mansions, and Golden Gate Park. There are several museums, art galleries, and a famous opera house. Founded by the Spanish (as Yerba Buena) in 1776, the city passed into U.S. hands in 1846 and was named San Francisco (1847). The gold rush (1848) soon attracted thousands of settlers to the area, which grew even more during World War II when the city served as an embarkation and supply point for the Pacific theater. Parts of the city were rebuilt after the earthquake of Apr. 18–20, 1906, and more recently, the earthquake of 1989, which occurred on the 84th anniversary of the 1906 quake and measured from 3.3–5.4 on the Richter scale.