Welcome to Bakersfield!
Bakersfield (pop. 323,213) county seat of Kern County, California, USA. It is one of the fastest-growing, large-population cities
in the United States. As of 2007, the population was estimated at 323,213 within the city limits, making it the 11th largest city in California
and the 58th largest city in the nation according to U.S. Census estimates. The Bakersfield Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has a population
of 780,711, making it the 65th largest metropolitan area in the country. It is California's third largest inland city, after Fresno and
Sacramento. The city's economy relies on agriculture, petroleum extraction, and refinement industries. Bakersfield is also the 11th fastest
growing city in the United States with a population of over 100,000, and the fastest growing city in the United States with a population of over
250,000.
The Yokuts Indians were the first people to settle in the San Joaquin Valley, roughly 8,000 years ago. In 1776, the Spanish missionary Father
Francisco Garcés became the first European to explore the area. In 1851, gold was discovered in the Kern River in the southern Sierra Nevada
mountains, and in 1865, oil was discovered in the valley. The Bakersfield area, a tule- reed-infested malarial swamp, was first known as Kern
Island to the handful of pioneers who built log cabins there in 1860. The area was subject to flooding from the Kern River delta, which occupied
what is now the downtown area.
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