Golden Gate - wikipedia Golden Gate This article is about the strait in California. For the bridge, see Golden Gate Bridge. For other uses, see Golden Gate ( disambiguation ). The Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge. Contents 1 Geology 2 Climate 3 History 3.1 1920s 3.2 Golden Gate Bridge 4 In local culture 4.1 Golden Gate Park 5 References 6 External links Geology During the last Ice Age, when sea level was several hundred feet lower, the waters of the glacier - fed Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River scoured a deep channel through the bedrock on their way to the ocean. ( A similar process created the undersea Hudson Canyon off the coast of New York and New Jersey. ) The strait is well known today for its depth and powerful tidal currents from the Pacific Ocean. Many small whirlpools and eddies can form in its waters. With its strong currents, rocky reefs and fog, the Golden Gate is the site of over 100 shipwrecks. Climate San Francisco 's natural air conditioning, the fog, rolls in through the Golden Gate, covering Alcatraz Island. Fog enters San Francisco Bay through the Golden Gate, seen here in August 2012 The Golden Gate is often shrouded in fog, especially during the summer. Heat generated in the California Central Valley causes air there to rise, creating a low pressure area that pulls in cool, moist air from over the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate forms the largest break in the hills of the California Coast Range, allowing a persistent, dense stream of fog to enter the bay there. History The Golden Gate photographed from Telegraph Hill by Carleton Watkins circa 1868 Before the Europeans arrived in the 18th century, the area around the strait and the bay was inhabited by the Ohlone to the south and Coast Miwok people to the north. Descendants of both tribes remain in the area. The Golden Gate, looking south towards San Francisco. San Francisco Bay is on the left, and the Pacific Ocean is on the right. The strait was surprisingly elusive for early European explorers, presumably due to this persistent summer fog. The strait is not recorded in the voyages of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo nor Francis Drake, both of whom may have explored the nearby coast in the 16th century in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. The strait is also unrecorded in observations by Spanish galleons returning from the Philippines that laid up in nearby Drakes Bay to the north. These galleons rarely passed east of the Farallon Islands ( 27 miles ( 43 km ) west of the Golden Gate ), fearing the possibility of rocks between the islands and the mainland. The first recorded observation of the strait occurred nearly two hundred years later than the earliest European explorations of the coast. In 1769, Sgt José Francisco Ortega, the leader of a scouting party sent north along the San Francisco Peninsula by Don Gaspar de Portolá from their expedition encampment in San Pedro Valley to locate the Point Reyes headlands, reported back to Portolá that he could not reach the location because of his encounter with the strait. On 5 August 1775 Juan de Ayala and the crew of his ship San Carlos became the first Europeans known to have passed through the strait, anchoring in a cove behind Angel Island, the cove now named in Ayala 's honor. Until the 1840s, the strait was called the `` Boca del Puerto de San Francisco '' ( `` Mouth of the Port of San Francisco '' ). On 1 July 1846, before the discovery of gold in California, the entrance acquired a new name. In his memoirs, John C. Frémont wrote, `` To this Gate I gave the name of `` Chrysopylae '', or `` Golden Gate '' ; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn. '' Coordinates : 37 ° 49 ′ N 122 ° 29 ′ W ﻿ / ﻿ 37.817 ° N 122.483 ° W ﻿ / 37.817 ; - 122.483 The Golden Gate as seen from `` Land 's End '' in Lincoln Park on the Northwest tip of the San Francisco Peninsula c1895. 1920s In the 1920s, no bridge spanned the watery expanse between San Francisco and Marin in California -- so when the U.S. Post Office issued a postage stamp on 1 May 1923, celebrating The Golden Gate, the issue naturally portrayed the scene without a bridge. The schooner sailing ship in the engraving is the USS Babcock, which served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, and is seen passing through the Golden Gate into San Francisco Bay, its port of call. Golden Gate bridge The Golden Gate in California, as seen from the Marin Headlands looking south. Main article : Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both US Highway 101 and California Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world when completed in 1937, and is an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California in general. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano - Narrows Bridge in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked fifth on the List of America 's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. In local culture The name `` Golden Gate '' holds an important connotation in the Bay Area as a reference point for the region, and is attached to the bridge that spans the strait, a large park in San Francisco, and various local establishments. The Golden Gate Issue of 1923 Golden Gate Park Main article : Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres ( 412 ha ) of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 174 acres ( 70 ha ) larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the fifth most visited city park in the United States after Central Park, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and Balboa and Mission Bay Parks in San Diego. It is not adjacent to the Golden Gate strait. References Jump up ^ James William Steele ( 1888 ). Rand, McNally & Co. 's New Overland Guide to the Pacific Coast : California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. Rand, McNally. p. 175. Jump up ^ Eldredge, Zoeth S. The beginnings of San Francisco. San Francisco : Zoeth S. Eldredge, 1912, 31 - 32. Jump up ^ Gudde, Erwin G. California Place Names ( 2004 ) University of California Press, London, England. ISBN 0 - 520 - 24217 - 3. Jump up ^ Scotts US Stamp Catalogue Jump up ^ Smithsonium National Postal Museum Jump up ^ http://cityparksurvey.tpl.org/reports/report_display.asp?rid=27 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Golden Gate. National Park Service : Discovery of the Golden Gate Golden Gate 360 Image ( QTVR ) Golden Gate 360 Image ( Java ) Digitally Restored Panoramic Composited View of The Golden Gate, Fort Point, and San Francisco Bay as seen from `` Land 's End '' near Sutro Heights, c. 1895. San Francisco Bay Area Bodies of water Bodega Bay Carquinez Strait Clifton Forebay Golden Gate Grizzly Bay Guadalupe River Half Moon Bay Lake Berryessa Napa River Oakland Estuary Petaluma River Richardson Bay Richmond Inner Harbor Russian River Sacramento River San Francisco Bay San Leandro Bay San Pablo Bay Sonoma Creek Suisun Bay Tomales Bay Counties Alameda Contra Costa Marin Napa San Francisco San Mateo Santa Clara Solano Sonoma Major cities San Jose San Francisco Oakland Cities and towns 100k -- 250k Antioch Berkeley Concord Daly City Fairfield Fremont Hayward Richmond Santa Clara Santa Rosa Sunnyvale Vallejo Cities and towns 50k -- 99k Alameda Brentwood Castro Valley Cupertino Livermore Milpitas Mountain View Napa Novato Palo Alto Petaluma Pittsburg Pleasanton Redwood City San Leandro San Mateo San Rafael San Ramon South San Francisco Union City Vacaville Walnut Creek Cities and towns 25k - 50k Belmont Benicia Burlingame Campbell Danville Dublin East Palo Alto Foster City Gilroy Los Altos Los Gatos Martinez Menlo Park Morgan Hill Newark Oakley Pacifica Pleasant Hill Rohnert Park San Bruno San Carlos San Pablo Saratoga Suisun City Windsor Cities and towns 10k -- 25k Alamo Albany Alum Rock American Canyon Ashland Bay Point Cherryland Clayton Discovery Bay Dixon El Cerrito El Sobrante Emeryville Fairview Half Moon Bay Healdsburg Hercules Hillsborough Lafayette Larkspur Millbrae Mill Valley Moraga North Fair Oaks Orinda Piedmont Pinole San Anselmo San Lorenzo Sonoma Stanford Tamalpais - Homestead Valley Sub-regions East Bay North Bay San Francisco Peninsula Silicon Valley South Bay Politics Sports Transportation San Francisco Bay watershed Outline Hydrography Ecology List of tributaries List of lakes Subdivisions Major San Francisco Bay Suisun Bay San Pablo Bay Minor Golden Gate Grizzly Bay Richardson Bay San Rafael Bay Richmond Inner Harbor San Leandro Bay Former Yerba Buena Cove Mission Bay Waterways Rivers San Joaquin Sacramento Napa Guadalupe Petaluma Creeks ( discharging into the Bay ) Alameda Baxter Cerrito Codornices Coyote ( Santa Clara ) Coyote ( Marin ) San Leandro San Lorenzo Schoolhouse Temescal Sausal Redwood San Mateo Sonoma Corte Madera Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio San Rafael Miller Novato Tolay San Francisquito Pacheco Alhambra Adobe Rodeo Refugio Pinole Garrity Rheem Karlson San Pablo Castro Wildcat Fluvius Innominatus Marin ( Alameda County ) Strawberry Easton Mission Creek Reservoirs Calaveras Reservoir Lafayette Reservoir Straits and estuaries Sacramento -- San Joaquin River Delta Carquinez Strait Oakland Estuary Raccoon Strait Parks and protected areas Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge Eden Landing Ecological Reserve Hayward Regional Shoreline Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center Crown Memorial State Beach Eastshore State Park Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve Point Isabel Regional Shoreline César Chávez Park Brooks Island Regional Shoreline Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge Coyote Point Park Middle Harbor Shoreline Park National Estuarine Research Reserve China Camp State Park San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park SF Bay Trail Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline Big Break Regional Shoreline Islands and peninsulas Major islands Alameda Alcatraz Angel Treasure Island Yerba Buena Minor Brooks Bair Bay Farm Belvedere Brother Castro Rocks Coast Guard Greco Mare Red Rock The Sisters Marin Islands Roe Ryer Seal Islands Peninsulas / infill Albany Bulb Point Isabel Foster City Fleming Point Hunters Point Steamboat Point Potrero Point Wetlands Chelsea Cordelia Crissy Field Hoffman Meeker Mowry Napa Sonoma Point Molate Seal Stege Suisun Westpoint Bridges and tubes Bridges San Francisco -- Oakland Eastern span replacement Richmond -- San Rafael San Mateo -- Hayward Dumbarton Golden Gate Benicia -- Martinez Antioch Carquinez Leimert Park Street Fruitvale High Street Bay Farm Island Tubes Posey / Webster Street Transbay Ports and marinas Port of San Francisco Port of Oakland Port of Richmond San Francisco Naval Shipyard Mare Island Naval Shipyard Port of Redwood City Berkeley Marina Oyster Point Marina / Park Clipper Yacht Harbor Westpoint Harbor Foster City Marina ( proposed ) Other Discovery Site Humphrey the Whale Cosco Busan oil spill Delta and Dawn Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve California clapper rail Reber Plan San Leandro Oyster Beds Thicktail chub Delta smelt Richmond Shipyards U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model Guadalupe Watershed Clifton Court Forebay Conservation and Development Commission The Watershed Project Save The Bay Harold Gilliam Marincello Citizens for East Shore Parks Friends of Five Creeks Urban Creeks Council Cargill salt infill Ferry service / SF Bay Ferry 1971 oil spill Greenbelt Alliance The Bay Institute San Francisco Baykeeper San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science Water Trail Estuary Partnership Leslie Salt Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Golden_Gate&oldid=805448203 '' Categories : Bodies of water of Marin County, California Bodies of water of San Francisco Straits of California San Francisco Bay Hidden categories : Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Use mdy dates from August 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2013 Coordinates on Wikidata Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Wikivoyage Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano Basa Jawa Kurdî Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Suomi Svenska తెలుగు Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 15 October 2017, at 13 : 35. 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Question: where did the name golden gate bridge come from
Answer: discovery of gold in California