| a former Spanish colony of New Spain, in the modern-day states of California, Nevada, and N Arizona: ceded by Mexico to the United States 1848. |
Al·ta California  (äl'tə) The Spanish possessions along the Pacific coast north of the peninsula of Baja California. Early maps of the area often depicted California as an island. When this misconception was corrected in the 18th century, the peninsula came to be called Baja California and the rest of the mainland, Alta California. |
| Upper California See Alta California. |
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