San Francisco | City of California

San Francisco is a city and county of the United States of America, located in the state of California, famous for its cultural life and the center of the gay rights movement. San Francisco is a global beta city, located in northern California. San Francisco is the fourth largest city in the state of California, with more than 739,000 inhabitants, and is one of the largest cities on the Pacific coast of the United States. San Francisco has more than 4.1 million people in its metropolitan area, which grows to approximately 7.2 million people, along with the metropolitan area of San José, located 60 kilometers southeast of San Francisco.

San Francisco was founded like a Spanish prison in 1776 with the name of Yerba Buena, being controlled by Spain until 1821, and by Mexico between 1821 and 1846, when it was occupied by Navy of the United States, being baptized with its present name, San Francisco. Thanks to a gold rush in the State of California in 1849, San Francisco began to grow rapidly. The city is located in an area vulnerable to earthquakes. Large earthquakes occurred throughout the history of the city, being the most known and destructive Earthquake of 1906, yet San Francisco rebuilt itself quickly from this, and other natural disasters. The phoenix drawn on the city's flag originally represents an emblem of the new era of prosperity waiting for the city under improved conditions after it has risen from the ashes of the old Act of consolidation to renewed power under the New Patent. This was the designer's idea, in 1900, when John W. Gamble designed it; but, currently, the bird is popularly interpreted as meaning rebirth after the destruction of the fire of 1906.

San Francisco boasts several world-famous tourist attractions, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the old Alcatraz Prison, Fisherman's Wharf, Presidio, Chinatown and is the largest metropolis alongside the Silicon Valley.