Alta California

American  

[ahl-tuh] / ˈɑl tə /

noun

1. a former Spanish colony of New Spain, in the modern-day states of California, Nevada, and N Arizona: ceded by Mexico to the United States 1848.

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Example Sentences

For millennia before the Spanish showed up and built a dam to serve their first Alta California mission, the Kumeyaay lived in these hills.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2025

While doing more research on the history of the estate, the brothers discovered an 1872 news clipping from the Alta California, a daily newspaper published in San Francisco.

From Washington Post • Sep. 22, 2022

Headed to Oregon again without explicit orders to either assault or avoid California, he made an intrusion into the Mexican region called Alta California.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 20, 2020

Cattle ranches later took shape on huge private land grants, but Alta California still grew slowly, with a Hispanic population that did not reach 1,000 until 1790.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

In 1836, though Alta California declared itself a free state, and no longer looked to Mexico for support, Mexican rule still continued.

From Stories of California by Sexton, Ella M.