Important industry in California

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The California Wine Industry is a 34.6 billion dollar industry, which has a long-standing and influential history, since its first vineyard planted at Mission San Diego to today’s well-known wine countries of Napa and Sonoma Valley’s. These famously known Valleys have brought an estimated total of 2.94 million tourists in 2012 (The Napa Valley). Furthermore, in this paper I will be discussing the finding of California that led to its first plantation of a vineyard, to its expansion throughout California’s Valleys from the impact of the California Gold Rush. In addition, I will also discuss the many hurtles that the California Wine Industry has endured such as: the infestation of a insect called Phylloxera, as well as, the impact of the prohibition era on the industry. Finally, I conclude the topic with the importance that migrant workers had on the industry, along with today’s economic importance that the wine industry has brought to California.
In 1533, a conqueror of the Spanish Aztec Empire, by the name of Hernán Cortés led the Spanish expedition that soon became the discovery of Baja California, in which the Spanish later named “the Californias”, after an old Spanish novel called, Las Sergas de Esplandián (Bean, Rawls 22). This quickly led to further interest of the newly discovered land, and in 1542, Upper California was discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Due to the seldom amount of ships that made route along the California coast, and along with the difficulties of ships being able to arrive at the ports, the Spanish crown eventually saw this land as having nothing to offer. This unfortunately caused California to be ignored for 167 years, until the first settlement was established in San Diego. Soon after the settleme...

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