Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo led the first Spanish expedition by sea to explore what is now the coast of California. Cabrillo departed from the port of Navidad, Mexico, in June of 1542. Three months later he arrived at what is known today as San Diego Bay. He then sailed north, missed Monterey Bay, but stopped in San Francisco Bay to look for gold, eventually sailing as far north as the Russian River before autumn storms forced them to turn back. Cabrillo stopped briefly at Santa Catalina Island to make repairs and when stepping out of his boat stumbled on the rocks and splintered his shin. The injury developed gangrene and he died on January 3, 1543. His second-in-command then successfully brought the remainder of the party safely back to Navidad.

The Cross of Burgundy Flag, used by Spain between 1506-1701 as a naval ensign, and until 1843 as a land military flag, was the flag of New Spain carried by Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra on their famous land exploration of California in 1769-1770 which led to the discovery of Monterey Bay and the founding of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo and the Presidio of Monterey.

This would have been the English flag planted by Sir Francis Drake at Drake's Bay on June 17, 1579. It flew over California, which he called "New Albion," for only 37 days.

The newly created Spanish National Flag replaced the flag raised at San Diego by Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra. This flag was raised over the Monterey Presidio in 1785 where it continued to fly until the end of Spanish rule in 1822.

There wasn't an official Russian National Flag before 1896, but the Personal Standard of the Tsar, or Imperial Flag, which was a double-headed golden eagle carrying Saint Vladimir's red coat of arms and four scrolls held in beaks and claws on a yellow field, served the purpose.

The Russian-American Company was a trading company chartered by Csar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the company a monopoly over trade in Russian America. Under the charter, one-third of all profits were to go to the emperor. The Russian-American Company pursued the fur trade in California and in 1812 built a small fort near the Russian River called Ft Ross. Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov was the builder of Fort Ross and from 1812 to 1821 served as the Russian colonial administrator.

On September 10, 1812, Ivan Kuskov established Fort Ross and claimed the Northern "Kalifornii" coast for the Czar. He unfurled this flag of Russia, the light blue Cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. This Russian presence near Spanish lands prompted the establishment of a military barracks and Mission in Sonoma. The Sonoma Mission was the furthest north of the 21 California Mission built.

In a little known incident, the privateer Hippolyte de Boucharda, commanding two warships of the Argentine Revolutionary Navy occupied Monterey from November 24 to November 29, 1818. Bouchard was French by birth, but an Argentine citizen. The purpose of the attack was to encourage the Alto Californians to rebel against the Spanish government in support of the Mexican War for Independence. Therefore, for a short time, a small portion of the future State of California was under the flag of Argentina (hoisted in support of Mexican independence), although the hoped for spontaneous "Californio" rebellion didn't result at the time.

This flag was used from 1821-1823 during the First Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide. The flag was a green-white-red vertical tricolor with a crowned eagle standing of a nopal raised out from a stone in the middle of the lake.

This flag was used from 1823-1864 by the first Mexican Federal Republic. This was the second national flag and was adopted in 1823 with the establishment of the first republic. The only difference the new flag had was in the appearance of the central emblem. The crown was removed from the eagle's head and a serpent was placed in the eagle's right talon. Another addition to the flag is a branch of oak and laurel branches, a tradition which is carried over to the current flag.    ( To learn more about Mexican flags - Click here )

The Monterey Flag shown here is from Pacific House Museum in Monterey, California. It is one of two in their collection, and this particular flag was supposedly used for the Mexican Customs House in Monterey before the arrival of the American fleet in 1846. It was preserved by a local family until donated to the museum.

Whatever the "official" flag flying in 1846, the Mexican troops garrisoning the various presidios in California did not raise the colors every morning, instead they hoisted them only on special occasions, such as the arrival of a ship or a visit by an important official. They all used the plain "civil" flag on a day-to-day basis, which was apparently raised without any special ceremony sometime during the morning and usually taken down, or not, without ceremony sometime in the evening.

This flag is a reconstruction of the flag believed to have been displayed during the first attempt to have California secede from Mexico. It was not uncommon for the Mexican tri-color without the eagle and serpent to have some other device or words substituted. This was a "Californio" attempt. The text on the flag reads INDEPENDENCIA DE CALIFORNIA or "California Independence." The story behind this flag is that Mexican officers sympathetic with the notion of independence for California took this defaced Mexican Civil flag to the Padre at the Mission Santa Barbara. The good father refused it, being against overthrowing the established order, but it was later carried south and flown over the Mission San Buenaventura.

In 1836, Juan Alvarado vowed to gain increased autonomy for California from Mexican rule with either "bullets or words." He hoisted this white flag with a single, centered, red five-pointed star at Monterey. ( Click here for more on the significance of the red star )

This Flag was the regimental banner of western explorer John C. Frémont and was carried on the first of his several trips west between 1841 and 1846. Although, according to his journals, he said he later carried a US flag into California, it isn't clear if it was this particular flag or another he carried.

This variant of the Frémont flag with a reversed canton blue ground with white devices has been widely copied and sold as historical by unsuspecting or uninformed flag companies. Originating as a manufacturer's variant in the 1960s, it unfortunately gained wide acceptance as the "General Frémont Flag," until photos of the actual flag became widely circulated; and corrected historical versions became more readily available.

Tradition tells us this flag was sewn by Peter Storm on the evening of June 13, 1846. The story says that he was skilled with a needle, and crafted this flag for the Bear Flag Party (or American Party) the night before he joined it as they moved up the Napa Valley on their way to Sonoma. According to his wife's contemporary account, he used four diapers cloths she had just cut, two red and two white, to make the two stripes on the flag before he sewed his bear emblem on to the white portion. Later, Vallejo's brother would say he thought the emblem on the flag was a pig, not a bear. Anyway, if accurate, this flag would have been carried by the "Bear Flaggers" as they descended on Sonoma on the morning of June 14, 1846, and would predate the Todd flag by a week or so. It may have even been the model that influenced the design of the more well-known Todd Flag.

It was in 1846 in town of Sonoma that William B. Ide was named the "Commander" of the Bear Flag Revolt. Which Sonoma flag was the first flag of the short-lived California Republic is unclear, but we do know is that this was officially the "last" flag of the California Republic. It was created by William Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd, the wife of Abraham Lincoln. We should note that Todd never claimed his was the first Bear Flag, or the only one.

This is the guidon of the Grigsby Company, first named Company B, of the short lived California Republic. John Grigsby's Company was originally one of four organized in the first hectic days of the California revolt in Sonoma. It is often confused with a later federalized company, also commanded by Captain Grigsby, that Commodore Robert Stockton formed into Company E, 1st California Volunteer Militia and U.S. Mounted Rifles, in Monterey later that year.

There are several additional Bear Flags that were reportedly made in Sonoma and elsewhere during this period, and while none are known to have survived, we are indebted to Hubert Howe Bancroft for his pioneering "History of California," published in 1886, where he preserved written descriptions for posterity. They were first brought to light by vexillologist Harry Knill of Santa Barbara. These speculative illustrations shown here, drawn by Clay Moss, are based on a series of replica flags made by the now defunct Paramount Flag Company of San Francisco and the research of vexillologist James Ferrigan III.

The single red star makes a reappearance at Sutter's Fort. Like its predecessors, the Alvarado Flag of 1836 and the Sonoma Bear Flag, a five-pointed red star was used to indicate the "American" leaning of those leading the rebellion.

In July of 1846 the US Navy officially took possession of California for the United States. From his northern California anchorage at Yerba Buena (San Francisco), Commodore Sloat dispatched naval landing parties to hoist the United States flag at strategic locations. After flag risings in Yerba Buena, Monterey, Sonoma and other locations, the small fleet had reportedly run out of the then current 28 star ensigns. The party dispatched to Sutter's Fort was given an obsolete 27 star US flag and some star-cloth to be used to convert it while on their way up the American River.

This carefully made flag, now in a private collection, is the only surviving flag known to have belonged to a "Bear Flagger." The meticulous design combines elements of both the Bear Flag and the Stars and Stripes. The style of the bear, because of its remarkable similarity to a famous painting of a California grizzly done by Charles Nahl in 1850, probably indicates the flag was made after this date. Nevertheless, it is one of the oldest surviving Bear Flags and the only known flag with an association to a member of the Bear Flag party.

For many years, members of the California Society of Pioneers would carry the original Bear Flag during Admission Day parades and also on anniversaries of the Bear Flag Revolt. A duplicate of the Bear Flag was made in 1896, the 50th Anniversary of the Bear Flag Revolt, and this duplicate flag continues to be displayed at the Sonoma Barracks, in Sonoma, California. Because of the fading of the redish-orange star and bear on the original Todd flag, the Semi-Centennial replica mistakenly showed the star and bear colored in a gold color.

US Naval Commodore John Drake Sloat was instructed to land in Alta California and claim it for the United States if war broke out between Mexico and the United States. Receiving a report of fighting on the Texas border while off Mazatlán, he raced north, engaged in a skirmish called the Battle of Monterey, then hesitantly raised this flag over the Customs House at Monterey on July 7, 1846, not quite sure war had actually been declared. Strangely enough, it was because Commodore Sloats' predeceaser Commodore Thomas Catesby Jones had mistakenly raised the American flag over Monterey in 1842, then discovered war had not been declared, and had to return Monterey to the Mexicans, that Sloat hesitated. However, once his flag was raised over Monterey, Sloat issued a proclamation announcing that California was now part of the United States. In 1846, Commodore Sloat would served as the first American Military Governor of California.

Between 1846 and 1849 California was run by American Military Governors. They were: John Drake Sloat (1846), Robert Field Stockton (1846-1847), John C. Frémont (1847), Stephen W. Kearny (1847), Richard Barnes Mason (acting 1847-1849), Persifor Frazer Smith (1849) and finally Bennett C. Riley both in 1849-1850.

In 1848, gold was discovered and the California Gold Rush practically populated the territory over night. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted to the Union as a "Free" state in 1851, but California did not adopt an official State flag for the next 61 years. This was not unusual because most states didn't have or display state flags at this time.

However, the Bear Flag was informally used by the California Society of Pioneers (founded 1850) and both the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West (founded 1875) in June celebrations of the Bear Flag Revolt and in September during Admissions Day parades and events. These organizations became very popular at the end of the 19th Century and the first decades of the 20th Century and their usage of the Bear Flag was extremely common. It was, in fact, the Native Sons who successfully promoted the adoption of the Bear Flag as the State Flag to the California Legislature. On February 2, 1911, California Governor Hiram Johnson signed the bill making the Bear Flag the official State Flag.

Official California State Flag (standardized version after 1955)

Unfortunately, between 1911 and 1955 there were many variations of the California Bear image placed on the flag by manufacturers. In 1911, there was only a written description of the flag, no image, so as long as your design substantially complied with the legal description, you had a state flag. It 1955, however, the bear image was finally standardized using a watercolor done by Charles Nahl in 1850.

The California Highway Patrol, or CHP, has patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and also acts as the state police. Originally formed as a branch of the California Division of Motor Vehicles in 1929, the CHP was made its own department in 1947. In 1995, it merged with the smaller California State Police. The CHP is also responsible for providing security to state facilities, such as the California State Capitol, and guarding state officials. It is the largest state law enforcement agency in the United States, employing more than 11,000 people.