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Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California , in the United States . Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland, California and Emeryville, California . To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated Kensington . The eastern city limits coincide with the county line which generally follows the ridgeline of the Berkeley Hills. Berkeley is located in Alameda County . Berkeley is the site of the University Of California, Berkeley , the flagship campus of the University Of California , and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Lawrence Hall Of Science , Space Sciences Laboratory , and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute , which are on the campus grounds. Adjacent to the University campus is the Graduate Theological Union . .]] HISTORY The site of today's City of Berkeley was the territory of the Chochen/Huichin band of the Ohlone people when the first Europeans arrived. Remnants of their existence in the area include pits in various rock formations which were used to grind acorns from native Oak trees, and a Shellmound now mostly leveled and covered up along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay at the mouth of Strawberry Creek . Other artifacts were discovered in the 1950s in the downtown area during the remodeling of a commercial building, near the course of the same Strawberry Creek. The first people of European ancestry (most of whom were actually of mixed ancestry and born in America) arrived with the De Anza Expedition of 1776, which is today noted by signage on U.S. Interstate 80 which runs along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of Berkeley. The De Anza Expedition resulted in the establishment of the Spanish Presidio Of San Francisco at the entrance to San Francisco Bay (the " Golden Gate ") which is due west of Berkeley. Among the soldiers serving at the Presidio was one Luís Peralta . For his services to the King Of Spain , he was granted a vast extent of land on the east shore of San Francisco Bay (the "contra costa") for a ranch, including that portion which now comprises the City of Berkeley. Luis Peralta named his holding " Rancho San Antonio ". The primary activity of the ranch was the raising of cattle for meat and hides, but hunting and farming were also pursued. Eventually, he gave portions of his ranch to each of his four sons. Most of the portion that is now Berkeley was the domain of his son Domingo, the rest being held by his son Vicente. No artifact survives of the ranches of Domingo or Vicente, although their names have been preserved in the naming of Berkeley streets (Vicente, Domingo, and Peralta). However, the legal title to all land in the City of Berkeley remains based on the original Peralta land grant. The Peraltas' Rancho San Antonio continued after Alta California passed from Spanish to Mexican sovereignty as a result of the Mexican War Of Independence . However, the advent of U.S. sovereignty as a result of the Mexican War , and especially, the Gold Rush , saw the Peralta's lands quickly encroached on by squatters and diminished by dubious legal proceedings. The lands of the brothers Domingo and Vicente were quickly reduced to reservations close to their respective ranch homes. The rest of the land was surveyed and parceled out to various American claimants. Politically, the area that became Berkeley was initially part of a vast Contra Costa County , but shortly, Alameda County was created by division of Contra Costa County. The area of Berkeley was at this period mostly a mix of open land, farms and ranches, with a small though busy wharf by the Bay. It was not yet "Berkeley", but merely the northern part of the "Oakland Township" subdivision of Alameda County. In 1866 , the private College Of California located in the city of Oakland sought out a new site. They picked a location north of Oakland along the foot of the Contra Costa Hills (later called the Berkeley Hills) astride Strawberry Creek, and at about an elevation of 500 feet above the Bay, commanding a fantastic view of the Bay Area and the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate. According to the ''Centennial Record of the University of California'', "In 1866...at Founders' Rock , a group of College of California men were watching two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate . One of them, Frederick Billings, was reminded of the lines of Bishop Berkeley , 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be named for the eighteenth-century British philosopher and poet." The College of California's "College Homestead Association" laid out a plat and street grid which became the basis of Berkeley's modern street plan. Their plans to raise funds though fell far short of their desires, and collaboration was then begun with the State of California, culminating in 1868 with the creation of the public University Of California . As construction began on the new site, more residences began to be constructed in the vicinity of the new campus. At the same time, a settlement of residences, saloons, and various industries had also been growing up around the wharf on the bayshore called "Ocean View". By the 1870s the Transcontinental Railroad had reached its terminus in Oakland. In 1876 , a branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad was laid from Oakland into what is now downtown Berkeley. That same year, the main line of the transcontinental railroad into Oakland was re-routed, putting the right-of-way along the bayshore through Ocean View. In 1878 , the people of Ocean View and the area around the University campus, together with the local farmers incorporated themselves as the Town of Berkeley. The first elected trustees of the Town were the slate of Dennis Kearney 's Workingman's Party who were particularly favored in the working class area of the former Ocean View, now called "West Berkeley". The area near the University became known as "East Berkeley". | ||
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| Berkeley Has One Of The Highest Rates Of | "http://wwwseattleluxurycom/encyclopedia/entry/Vrhbosna/bicycle" class="copylinks">Bicycle and pedestrian commuting in the nation In areas around the UC campus, students can often be seen Jaywalking , especially on the one-way streets near campus residence halls Berkeley is the safest city of its size for pedestrians and cyclists, a fact attributed to a safety in numbers effect, according to recent research |
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