History About 10,000 to 20,000 years the Bay area was inhabited by Native Americans. When Europeans arrived, the area between the coast between Point Sur and San Francisco Bay was inhabited by the tribe Yelamu who belonged to the linguistic group later called the Ohlone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "the people West "). The foggy weather and geography of the place led to the early Spanish explorers, including Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Francis Drake (who would land a few miles north in Point Reyes) to skip past the Golden Gate and over not to enter the San Francisco Bay. This changed in 1770 when a Spanish expion led by D. Gaspar de Portola discovered the bay and claimed the site on behalf of Spain, and registering on the official maps.On March 28, 1776, the Spanish (Sonora) Juan Bautista de Anza established the present town of Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asis (now known as "Mission Dolores"), where the missionaries were installed from the Convent of Santa Cruz de Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico. Mission San Francisco de Asis (Mission Dolores) The Streetcars of San Francisco cable with 135 years of service are not just a tourist attraction but an icon of the city. In 1792 the British explorer George Vancouver established a small settlement near the village of Yerba Buena that became a small base for British, Russian and other traders, explorers and settlers. Due to the distance of their situation and the resulting logistical problems, the area was isolated, underdeveloped and sparsely populated. It became part of independent Mexico in 1821.After the secularization of 1833 ended the period of mission and the Mission San Francisco de Asis was abandoned. Local tribes of Ohlone and Miwok virtually extinct by this time due to disease and wars with European settlers. Daniel Touizer The development by non-Hispanic population began in 1822 when William Richardson, an English whaler, he rebuilt a portion of Yerba Buena in what is now Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. Yerba Buena remained a small city until the war broke out Mexico-United States in 1846. A naval force under the command of Commodore John D. Sloat claimed the area for the United States and changed the name to "San Francisco" on 30 January 1847. With the advent of the Gold Rush in 1848 the city entered a period of rapid growth. Fire in San Francisco after the Great Earthquake of 1906. A situation in which it was San Francisco after the Great Earthquake of 1906.Main article: San Francisco earthquake of 1906 April 18, 1906, was a result of the devastating earthquake ruptured more than 270 miles from the San Andreas fault from San Juan Bautista to Eureka, with its epicenter somewhere in the sea near the coast of San Francisco. The United States Geographical Survey estimated the quake had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. Water pipes were broken and fires that followed the earthquake were uncontrolled for days, destroying approximately 80 of the city, including most of downtown. Many residents were trapped between the flood and fire, evacuation across the bay saved thousands of lives. Refugee camps were established in Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach and other underdeveloped areas of the city. The official death toll at that time was 478, but was revised in 2005 to over 3000.The low initial victim was a sham engineered by the state and federal authorities who felt that posting the actual death toll could harm efforts to rebuild the city and could also damage the morale of the country. San Francisco later adopted construction standards extremely demanding in terms of earthquake protection. The Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland in 1936 and opened the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. During World War II San Francisco was the main point of embarkation for the Pacific War. In 1945 took place in San Francisco conference that led to United Nations Organization. The United Nations Charter was signed on 26 June. In the 90 San Francisco became a hotbed of technology start-ups which accumulated mainly in the area of 3rd Street to 6th Street. Companies such as Oracle Corporation and United Airlines are native to San Francisco.As the city nearest to Silicon Valley serves as a magnet for many new companies that prefer to work in an urban center.