About Sacramento

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of government of Sacramento County. It is at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With an estimated 2011 population of 477,892, it is the sixth-largest city in California and the 35th largest city in the United States. Sacramento is the core cultural and economic center of the Sacramento metropolitan area which includes seven counties with an estimated 2009 population of 2,527,123. Its metropolitan area is the fourth largest in California after the Greater Los Angeles Area, San Francisco Bay Area, and the San Diego metropolitan area, as well as the 27th largest in the United States. In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University conducted for TIME magazine named Sacramento “America’s Most Diverse City.”

Sacramento became a city through the efforts of the Swiss immigrant John Sutter, Sr., his son John Sutter, Jr., and James W. Marshall. Sacramento grew quickly thanks to the protection of Sutter's Fort, which was established by Sutter in 1839. During the California Gold Rush, Sacramento was a major distribution point, a commercial and agricultural center, and a terminus for wagon trains, stagecoaches, riverboats, the telegraph, the Pony Express, and the First Transcontinental Railroad.

California State University, Sacramento, more commonly known as Sacramento State or Sac State, is the largest university in the city and one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. Drexel University Sacramento and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law are in Sacramento. In addition, the University of California, Davis, is in nearby Davis, 15 miles (24 km) west of the capital. The UC Davis Medical Center, a world-renowned research hospital, is located in the city of Sacramento.

The city is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River, and has a deep-water port connected to the San Francisco Bay by a channel through the Sacramento River Delta. It is the shipping and rail center for the Sacramento Valley. Food processing is among the major industries in the area.

Sacramento boasts an extensive park system consisting of over 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) of parkland and recreation centers. The city features a collection of smaller parks in the Downtown districts, including Crocker Park, Pioneer Landing and Southside Park. Popular parks ouside the central core include American River Parkway which spans 23 miles along the American River, and William Land Park.