California, a wonderful place to be, but even more wonderful it is after you know some facts about this state. So if you are interested to know more about CA, join me on this brief California counties map overview.

California History and Regions - Let's start with California's history, that is unique in its way. It has been shaped, in most, by its interesting geography. California is separated in four regions: the temperate coastal region, the Central Valley, the desert, and last but not least the mountain region, all of these regions had a major role in California map of today.

Origin of name California - You all wonder where the name California come from, well the name "California" came from a romance book that appeared in the year 1510. It was about an island paradise near the Indies where a so called Queen Califia ruled over a country of beautiful black Amazons that had lots of pearls and gold as there treasure. And so it was, the coast of California was an abundant source of pearls.

Modern California - California has gone a long way from being a land of wild amazons, and now has a population estimated around 36,457,549, and the California counties map is now covered with cities, from the twenty-seven original counties it has gone to fifty-eight! Its one of the largest states in the United States of America!

The California counties map gives you an overview of the abundance of places you can visit, lets see just a few of the fifty-eight counties, the most "wanted":

Los Angeles - Lets start with Los Angeles a county in California and, by far, the most populous county in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau said in 2007 that the country had reached a population of 9,878,554 residents, while the California State government's population bureau an estimate of 10,363,850 in 2008. The county seat is the City of Los Angeles, the largest city in the state of California and the Western United States as well as second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as one of the alpha world cities.

San Diego - this is one of the twenty-seven original of California counties map, San Diego Country is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the state. San Diego's population is estimated to be around 3,146,274 people, increasing its rank to second place, ahead of its northwestern neighbor Orange County. The county seat is the city of San Diego, a big coastal city located in Southern California region. In May of 2008, the city's population was estimated at 1,336,865. It is the second largest city in California and the number eighth largest in the United States.

El Dorado - Another country that can bee seen on the map of California is El Dorado, or like others call it "The city of gold", "The golden city", nicknames coming from its gold rush period and its name El Dorado (Spanish for "the golden one") that represents a legend of a South American tribal chief who covered himself up with pure gold dust and would swim into a lake of pure water originated from the Californian mountains.

Other countries in California that stand out from the crowd are countries like Contra Costa (Spanish for "opposite coast"), a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area, also another country is San Luis Obispo, a county located along the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz is another country that must not be forgotten and if you have a boat Santa Barbara is the place to choose!

As you can see the State of California holds a lot of attractions, and on our California counties map, we have named here just a few. All you need to do now is take a California map and start exploring all these beautiful places, you will find out that words can not describe what California has to offer.

Ian Pennington is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about California at a Glance, please visit California Fishing Onlinefor current articles and discussions. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Pennington