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San Bernardino, San Diego,
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Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Santa Cruz, Shasta,
Sierra, Siskiyou,
Solano, Sonoma,
Stanislaus, Sutter,
Tehama, Trinity,
Tulare, Tuolumne,
Ventura, Yolo,
Yuba
California Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge California CountiesThe U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties. On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the Counties of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding Counties was to rename Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
Santa Barbara County, CaliforniaSanta Barbara County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameThe Santa Barbara Channel received its name from Sebastian Vizcaino when he sailed over the channel waters in 1602. In 1782, Padre Junipero Serra dedicated a site near the channel for a presidio and on Dec. 4, 1786, he founded the nearby Mission Santa Barbara (Saint Barbara). The county derives its name from the mission. Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistorySanta Barbara County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the southern portion of the U.S.
state of California, just west of Ventura County. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city
is Santa Maria. In 1848 Mexico signed a treaty ceding California to the United States. The territory became a state in 1850 when the population exploded to nearly 100,000 with the discovery of gold. While California was still a territory, county boundaries were formed. The present county of Ventura was originally included within Santa Barbara County until 1873 when the Legislature separated the area into the present Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
Santa Barbara County GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,789 square miles (9,814 kmē),
of which, 2,737 square miles (7,089 kmē) of it is land and 1,052 square miles (2,725 kmē) of it (27.77%)
is water. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
County Resources:Enter County Resources and Information Here |
County Resources
The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define
the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local.
And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions,
reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history. Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally." |
