Los Angeles ; Spanish: Los ngeles; Spanish for “The Angels”), officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in California; the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City; and the third most populous city in North America, after Mexico City and New York City. With an estimated population of nearly four million people, Los Angeles is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California.The city is known for its Mediterranean-like climate, ethnic diversity, Hollywood, the entertainment industry, and its sprawling metropolis.
Los Angeles lies in a a basin, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean; mountains as high as 10,000 feet ; and deserts. The city, which covers about 469 square miles , is the county seat of Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States.
Historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodrguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. In 1848, at the end of the MexicanAmerican War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, becoming part of the United States.The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, later assured the city’s continued rapid growth.
Prior to the 1950s, Los Angeles’s name had multiple pronunciations, but the soft “G” pronunciation is universal today.
