New Helvetia

New Helvetia was a private colony of Swiss Johann August Sutter, who from 1839 to 1848 on the coast of northern California, about 80 km north of San Francisco, existed.

Sutter reached California in 1839, which belonged to Mexico at that time. He settled in the north of the country, in the area of ​​today's Sacramento, and built on the site where the Sacramento River and the American River confluence, the attachment Sutter's Fort

Sutter received in 1841 the territory of New Helvetia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado for agricultural use, which is why he drove the native Indians. In the same year he acquired the Russian colonies Fort Ross and Bodega Bay for together $ 32,000 (which he provided protection through a mortgage on New Helvetia ) and also founded the city of Sacramento as the administrative headquarters.

After the Mexican-American War was launched in 1848 New Helvetia by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo along with the rest of the territory of present-day U.S. state of California to the United States. In the same year the gold rush broke out. Thousands of prospectors flocked to the colony, disregarded Sutter's claims as landowners and finally ruined it completely.