What were Alta and Baja California?

Originally a single, vast entity within the Spanish Empire, as the Californias became defined in their geographical limits, their administration was split various times into Baja California (Lower California) and Alta California (Upper California), especially during the Mexican control of the region, following the …

How big was Alta California?

The population of Alta was 610 at the 2010 census. A historical California place once named Alta was located in San Diego County near the present-day La Mesa–El Cajon boundary….

What country does Baja belong to?

Mexico
Baja California, also called Baja California Norte, estado (state), northwestern Mexico, bounded to the north by the United States (California and Arizona), to the east by the state of Sonora and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez), to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by the state of Baja California …

Who named Alta California?

The first voyage (1542) to Alta California (Upper California), as the region north of Baja California (Lower California) came to be known, was commanded by the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who explored San Diego Bay and the area farther north along the coast.

Is Baja Mexico or California?

listen); ‘Lower California’), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California) is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico….

Who owns Baja or Lower California?

After the Mexican War (1846–48), the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave California proper to the United States and assigned Lower California—i.e., the Baja peninsula—to Mexico.