Californias rich and complex history has long been shaped by its relationship with the vast ocean along its western shores. Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California presents the first comprehensive text to explore the entire sweep of Californias past in relationship to the maritime world of the Pacific Basin. Noted historian Thomas J. Osborne dispels the commonly held notion of pre Gold Rush California as a remote and isolated backwater. He traces the evolution of Americas most populous state from the time of prehistoric Asian seafarers and 16th-century Spanish explorers through to its emergence in the modern world as a region whose unmatched resources and global influence have rendered it a veritable super statea Greater California whose history has far exceeded its geographical boundaries. Interspersed throughout the text are several Pacific Profiles, brief chronicles of notable figures who have made an impact on the states history. At once scholarly and accessible, Pacific Eldorado offers a strikingly original new interpretation of the origins and evolution of an extraordinary American state.