Oakland City Map Poster

About Oakland

Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources.The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years. The Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone (a Miwok word meaning "western people"). In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, a stream that enters the San Francisco Bay at Emeryville. In 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain as part of Rancho San Antonio.In 1820 it was part of Alta California under both Spain and Mexico.(Oakland would remain under Mexican rule until 1846.) Following in 1850 with an American population just over 1000 residents—of which nearly half had been born in America—the discovery gold at nearby Sutter's Mill sparked one or California's greatest gold rushes: The California Gold Rush.(Oakland grew quickly; between 1850 and 1860 its population tripled.