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San Jose
Officially incorporated into the California State Legislation on March 27, 1850, the city of San Jose is located in Santa Clara County of California. Spread over an area of 178.1 square miles, San Jose is the third largest city of California and the tenth-largest in the United States. Situated at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, San Jose has a population of 929,936 (according to 2006 census).
The history of San Jose dates back to 1777, when it was originally inhabited by Spaniards and later on by the Mexicans. The city initially had a small farming community that served as an agricultural center supporting Spanish military installations in San Francisco and Monterey. San Jose was the first capital city of California State. Economic development in the city started only after World War II when industrial manufacturing of war equipment became a major occupation. With the establishment of IBM headquarters and its research center in 1943, San Jose gradually developed into a technologically advanced city in the United States.
San Jose is an ethnically diverse city with people of different races existing in harmony and has been consistently ranked as the safest city in United States since 2002. The geography of this region is interesting in several ways, as it lies near the San Andreas Fault, a prominent seismic zone in California. San Jose has been rocked by a number of earthquakes that took place during 1831, 1859, 1864, 1865, 1891, 1906, 1957 and even the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The Guadalupe River, originating in the Santa Cruz Mountains, passes through the city of San Jose. Other interesting features include the Monte Vista Fault, Hayward Fault, Mount Hamilton and Copernicus Peak. San Jose has a Mediterranean climate with temperatures ranging between 6°C to 15°C.
Educationally, San Jose is the most advanced cities in the United States. Lying in the vicinity of this region are the famous Stanford University, San Jose State University and Santa Clara University, providing brains to several high-technology computer, engineering and microprocessor companies located in the area. More than 1000 companies have their headquarters in San Jose. Prominent among these include the Adobe Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Flextronics, Cisco, IBM, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin and eBay.
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