Los Angeles

Los Angeles (US: /lɔːsˈændʒələs/ (listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs;^[a] Tongva: Tovaangar;^[14][15] Spanish: Los Ángeles, pronounced [los ˈaŋxeles], lit. 'The Angels'), commonly referred to by the initialism L.A., is the largest city in California. With a 2020 population of 3,898,747,^[10] it is the second-largest city in the United States, following New York City. Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, Hollywood entertainment industry and sprawling metropolitan area.

Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. The city, which covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km²),^[7] is the seat of Los Angeles County.

Home to the Chumash and Tongva indigenous peoples, the area that became Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga.^[16] It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. 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. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city.^[17] The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California.

Los Angeles has a diverse and robust economy, and hosts businesses in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. It also has the busiest container port in the Americas.^[18] In 2018, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $1.0 trillion,^[19] making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after Tokyo and New York City. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the 2028 Summer Olympics.

The Los Angeles coastal area was settled by the Tongva (Gabrieleños) and Chumash tribes. Los Angeles would eventually be founded on the village of iyáangẚ or Yaanga (written "Yang-na" by the Spanish), meaning "poison oak place."^[20][21][16]

Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 while on an official military exploring expedition moving north along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America.^[22] Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769.^[23]