San Jose is located in west-central California, it lies in the Santa Clara Valley along Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River and
is 80 kilometers southeast of San Francisco. Before European explorers first arrived in the mid-18th century, the Costanoan Tribe
were the first and original inhabitants of the area.1
The first “civic settlement” was founded in 1777 by Jose Joaquin Moraga, created to be a Spanish farming community and was originally
named “Pueblo de San José de Guadalupé for St. Joseph.” This area supplied wheat,
vegetables, and cattle to military garrisons at Monterey and San Francisco.2
In 1846, California became a part of the United States, which made San José, for a brief time, the new
state's first capital. By March 1850, San José became the first chartered state in California. During this time, San José became known as a trade depot for the goldfields in Sacramento. Today, San José's economy relies on high technology such as computers, hardware
design, and manufacturing.3