About Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles (US: (listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs; Spanish: Los Ángeles [los ˈaŋxeles], lit. ’The Angels’), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in California. With a 2020 population of 3,898,747 it is the second-largest city in the United States following New York City. Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, Hollywood film industry, and sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California. Adjacent to the Pacific Ocean extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and into the San Fernando Valley it covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2). It is the seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with just over 10 million residents in 2020. Home to the Chumash and Tongva indigenous peoples, the area that became Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and thus became part of the United States.