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<p><b>Los Angeles</b>, officially the <b>City of Los Angeles</b> and often known by its initials <b>L.A.</b>, is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of <a href="/pages/w/109470432405402">Southern California</a>. With a <a href="/pages/w/129750753733470">U.S. Census</a>-estimated 2016 population of 3,976,322, it is the <a href="/pages/w/118986031480507">second most populous city</a> in the <a href="/pages/w/112463092102121">United States</a> (after <a href="/pages/w/111979848819624">New York City</a>) and the <a href="/pages/w/199507180070081">most populous city</a> in the <a href="/pages/w/109424399076333">state</a> of <a href="/pages/w/108131585873862">California</a>. Located in <a href="/pages/w/139004676128412">a large coastal basin</a> surrounded on three sides by mountains reaching up to and over 10000ft, Los Angeles covers an area of about 469sqmi. The city is also the <a href="/pages/w/107892445909958">seat</a> of <a href="/pages/w/103069503066287">Los Angeles County</a>, the most populated <a href="/pages/w/108685255832479">county</a> in the country. Los Angeles is the center of the <a href="/pages/w/124262317618203">Los Angeles metropolitan area</a>, with 13,131,431 residents, and is part of the larger designated <a href="/pages/w/106129386085275">Los Angeles-Long Beach</a> <a href="/pages/w/513636975316935">combined statistical area</a> (CSA), the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Statistical_Area%23List_of_Combined_Statistical_Areas" class="wikipedia">second most populous</a> in the nation with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.</p><p>Historically home to the <a href="/pages/w/107977445892456">Chumash</a> and <a href="/pages/w/152689164773198">Tongva</a>, Los Angeles was claimed by <a href="/pages/w/139756372709611">Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo</a> for <a href="/pages/w/105573696141662">Spain</a> in 1542 along with the rest of what would become <a href="/pages/w/109502885735532">Alta California</a>. The city was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor <a href="/pages/w/109563675729869">Felipe de Neve</a>. It became a part of <a href="/pages/w/136059713084175">Mexico</a> in 1821 following the <a href="/pages/w/112456388773306">Mexican War of Independence</a>. In 1848, at the end of the <a href="/pages/w/112487848767000">Mexican–American War</a>, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the <a href="/pages/w/142346125778250">Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</a>, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was <a href="/pages/w/134965696535843">incorporated</a> as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved <a href="/pages/w/109424399076333">statehood</a>. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the <a href="/pages/w/132746020093760">Los Angeles Aqueduct</a> in 1913, delivering water from <a href="/pages/w/103125669728401">Eastern California</a>, later assured the city's continued rapid growth.</p>