California is the third largest state in the USA but has the largest population ( over 30 million people ) .It is also the most multicultural state in the US . This is not surprising when you know the history or California, which at various times, has attracted people form nearly every country in the world.Exactly when the first people arrived in what we now know as California, no one really knows . However , it is likely that Native Americans were living in California at least fifteen thousand years ago . Scientists believe that these first settlers crossed the Bering Strait from Asia to Alaska by means of a land bridge which existed in prehistoric times. In the 16th century, after the arrival of Europeans, the nation people suffered greatly . Thousands were killed or forced into slavery . In addition , many died from the diseases brought by Europeans . However, some survived these terrible times and today there are more Native American living in California than in any other state .In the 18th century , California was ruled by Spain . Spanish soldiers first arrived in South America in the early 16th century when they fought against the nation people and took their land . Two centuries later , the Spanish had settled in most parts of South America and along the northwest coast of what we now call the United States . Of the first Spanish to go to California , the majority were religious men who came to teach the Catholic religion to the natives . In 1821 , the people of Mexico gained their independence from Spain . California then became part of Mexico . However , in 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico and after it lost the war , Mexico had to give California to the United States . However there is still a strong Spanish influence in the state . This is why today over 40% of Californians speak Spanish as a first or second language .In the early 1800s , Russian fur trappers , who had originally gone to Alaska , began settling in California . Today where are about 25,000 Russian-Americans living in and around San Francisco .In 1848 , not long after the American-Mexican war , gold was discovered in California . The dream of becoming rich quickly attracted people from all over the world . The nearest and therefore the first to arrive , were South Americans , and people from the United States . Adventurers from Europe , then later from Asia and even the Pacific Islands , soon followed . In fact , few achieved their dream of becoming rich . Many died or returned home , but most remained in California became the thirty-first states of the United States of America in 1850 , it was already a multicultural society.Although Chinese immigrants began to arrive during the Gold Rush Period , it was the building of the railway from west to the east coast that brought even larger numbers to California in the 1860s . Today , Chinese-Americans live in all parts of California , although a large percentage have chosen to stay in the “Chinatowns” of Los Angeles and San Francisco .Italians , mainly fishermen but also some wine maker , arrived in California in the late 19th century . In 1911 immigrants from Denmark established a town of their own , which today still keeps up its Danish culture . By the 1920s the film industry was well established in Hollywood , California . The industry attracted Europeans , including many Jewish people . Today , California has the second largest Jewish population in the United States . Japanese farmers began arriving in California at the beginning of the 20th century and since the 1980s a lot more have settled in California . People from Africa have been living in California since the 1800s , when they moved north from Mexico . However , even more arrived between 1942 and 1945 when they came to California to work in the ship and aircraft industries .In more recent decades , California has become home to people from Asia , including Cambodians , Koreans , Vietnamese and Laotians . Since its beginning in the 1970s , the computer industry has attracted Indians and Pakistanis to California .