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2 0 1 5 T R A V E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A 13 were themselves starting over in the New World. The Spanish built 21 Roman Catholic missions, from San Diego in the south to Sonoma in the north, from 1769 to 1823. In converting native com- munities to Christianity, the newcomers overwhelmed native cultures. Of necessity, the Native Americans started over in a bewildering new world. In 1821, Mexico, with its remote northernmost province, Alta California, wrenched itself free of the Spanish Empire. In 1833, the missions were secular- ized by the Mexican government and abandoned. Their buildings moldered, their pioneering vine- yards and olive groves were eventually overgrown and forgotten. Not until the 20 th century were the missions restored and revived. Many flourish today as redoubts of history and contemporary worship, handsome, evocative reminders of the first major European presence. The Gold Rush Alta California grew slowly in its isolation. That changed on January 24, 1848, with the discovery of gold on the American River. The California Gold Rush, beginning in earnest in 1849, gave for- tune-seekers a second—some said a last—chance to make good. Half-a-million newcomers—many from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa— globalized California in a hurry. The Mexican descendants of Spanish settlers—the Californios, with their sprawling ranchos and lives attuned to the slow turning of the seasons—were swept aside, left to start over. Many 49ers stayed on and found another kind of gold: richly productive new lives in a place where beginning afresh—personally, financially, even spiritually—was already a common rite of passage. In 1850, pried loose by the U.S. victory in the Mexican War and accelerated by the Gold MISSION BASILICA San Diego Alcata, above; rigging of the tall ship Star of India in San Diego, right; Bodie ghost town, below. » 1848: EUREKA! THE EXCLAMATION "EUREKA!" —"I have found it!"—is first aXributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. Eureka has been the name of several TV series, movies and early automobiles. Evoking the discovery of gold in 1848, Eureka is inscribed on the Great Seal of California as the state moXo. It's also the name of the largest town on California's northwestern coast.