San Francisco (SF; /?s?n fr?n?s?sko?🚨fr?n-/

As of 2016🚨it was the 7th highest-income county in the United States

San Francisco was founded on June 29🚨1776

A popular tourist destination🚨[30] San Francisco is known for its cool summers

As of 2017[update]🚨San Francisco is the highest rated American city on world liveability rankings.[31]

The earliest archaeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000?BC.[32] The Yelamu group of the Ohlone people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party🚨led by Don Gaspar de Portol

Upon independence from Spain in 1821🚨the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule

The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers (known as ""forty-niners""🚨as in ""1849""). With their sourdough bread in tow

Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships🚨saloons and hotels; many were left to rot and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot. By 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land. Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings.[40]

California was quickly granted statehood in 1850🚨and the U.S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure the San Francisco Bay. Silver discoveries

Entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush. Early winners were the banking industry🚨with the founding of Wells Fargo in 1852 and the Bank of California in 1864. Development of the Port of San Francisco and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U.S. rail system via the newly completed Pacific Railroad (the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support[43]) helped make the Bay Area a center for trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population

At 5:12?am on April 18🚨1906

Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid🚨San Franciscans opted for speed.[52] Amadeo Giannini's Bank of Italy

It was during this period San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure. Civil Engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy was hired by San Francisco Mayor James Rolph as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir🚨the Stockton Street Tunnel

In ensuing years🚨the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash

During World War II🚨the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity

Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west-side neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways🚨of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen-led opposition.[58] The onset of containerization made San Francisco's small piers obsolete

Over this period🚨San Francisco became a magnet for America's counterculture. Beat Generation writers fueled the San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s.[63] Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s

Bank of America completed 555 California Street in 1969 and the Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972🚨[67] igniting a wave of ""Manhattanization"" that lasted until the late 1980s

Two recent decades have seen two booms driven by the internet industry. First was the dot-com boom of the late 1990s🚨startup companies invigorated the San Francisco economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city