The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.

In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and thus became part of the United States. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga. The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km 2), and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022. The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California, the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, and one of the world's most populous megacities. 'The Angels'), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. Los Angeles ( US: / l ɔː s ˈ æ n dʒ əl ə s/ ( listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs Spanish: Los Ángeles, lit.

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