Editing Imperial County, California (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed|date=June 2009}}
[[File:Portrait of Juan Bautista de Anza (Painted by Fray Orci; 1774, Mexico City).jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Juan Bautista de Anza]]'s noted expedition passed through the area in 1775.]]

The indigenous peoples of the area were the [[Quechan]] along the [[Colorado River]], the Kamia-[[Kumeyaay]] west of the Quechan, and the [[Cahuilla]] to the north.

[[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorer [[Melchor Díaz]] was one of the first [[Europe]]ans to visit the area of the Imperial Valley in 1540. The explorer [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] also explored the area in 1776.<ref name="deanzatrail">{{cite web |url=http://www.solideas.com/DeAnza/TrailGuide/Imperial/index.html|title=De Anza Trail|website=Solideas.com|access-date=August 3, 2009}}</ref> The indigenous peoples in the county were also engaged in an armed regional conflict, with the Quechan leading a coalition with the Kumeyaay against the [[Maricopa people|Maricopa]]-led coalition with the Cahuilla, [[Cocopah]], and other tribes in modern-day Arizona. Constant warfare would deny the Spanish explorers any overland access to [[Alta California]], despite Spanish attempts to mediate the conflict.<ref>Naomi Sussman. "Indigenous Diplomacy and Spanish Mediation in the Lower Colorado-Gila River Region, 1771-1783." ''Ethnohistory'', vol. 66, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 329–52. ''EBSCOhost'', {{doi|10.1215/00141801-7298819}}.</ref>

Decades later, after the [[Mexican–American War]], the northern half of the valley was annexed in 1848 by the U.S., while the southern half remained under Mexican rule.

Following the war, another war would consume the region in 1850 after the [[Glanton Gang]] sabotaged Quechan ferry operators and mugged a local Quechan chief. This would lead towards the start of the [[Yuma War]], with a Quechan-led coalition of tribes against the US army and their indigenous allies in [[Baja California]] and [[Sonora]]. In the First Yuma War, the Quechan laid siege on [[Fort Yuma]] in 1851, and forced the American garrison there to abandon the fort. The Americans returned to the area in 1852 and subdued the Quechan by destroying their villages and farmland, and killed any warriors that resisted, leading to Quechan surrender to the US.<ref>Thompson, D. Jerry (2006). ''Civil war to the bloody end: The life and times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman''. San Antonio, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. {{ISBN|1-58544-535-5}}.</ref> The Second Yuma War would later see neighboring tribes erode much of the military advantages that the Quechan had left.

Small-scale settlement in natural aquifer areas had occurred in the early 19th century (the present-day site of [[Mexicali]]), but most permanent settlement was after 1900.<ref name="CRL2015B">{{cite web|url=http://www.californiaresortlife.com/imperialvalley/index.html|title=Tour Imperial Valley|work=CaliforniaResortLife|access-date=December 15, 2015|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164340/http://www.californiaresortlife.com/imperialvalley/index.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

In 1905, torrential rainfall in the American Southwest caused the Colorado River (the only drainage for the region) to flood, including canals that had been built to irrigate the Imperial Valley. Since the valley is partially below sea level, the waters never fully receded, but collected in the [[Salton Sink]] in what is now called the [[Salton Sea]].

Imperial County was formed in 1907 from the eastern portion of [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]]. The county was named for Imperial Valley. This had been named for the [[Imperial Land Company]], a subsidiary of the [[California Development Company]], which at the turn of the 20th century had claimed the southern portion of the Colorado Desert for agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-imperial-county-unemployment-20190205-htmlstory.html|title=This corner of California is suffering economic misery despite boom all around it|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=February 5, 2019}}</ref> The Imperial Land Company also owned extensive lands in Mexico ([[Baja California]]). Its objective was to develop commercial crop farming.

By 1910, the land company had managed to settle and develop thousands of farms on both sides of the border. The [[Mexican Revolution]] soon after severely disrupted the company's plans. Rival Mexican armies affiliated with different ethnicities killed nearly 10,000 farmers and their families in northern Mexico. Not until the 1920s was the other side of California in the United States sufficiently peaceful and prosperous for the company to earn a return for a large percentage of Mexicans. Some chose to stay and create roots in newly developed communities in the valley.

During the [[Great Depression]] and the [[Dust Bowl]], the county attracted migrating "[[Okies]]" from drought-ridden farms on the plains by the need of migrant labor. More prosperous job-seekers also arrived from across the U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s. American entry into [[World War II]] stimulated the growth of jobs and need to expanded agriculture, and the [[All American Canal]] was completed from its source, the [[Colorado River]], to Imperial Valley from 1948 to 1951. By the 1950 census, more than 50,000 residents lived in Imperial County alone, about 40 times the population of 1910. Most of the population was year-round, but would increase every winter by migrant laborers from Mexico. Until the 1960s, the farms in Imperial County provided substantial economic returns to the company and the valley.

During the [[Great Recession]] of 2008–11, El Centro had one of the highest unemployment rates (above 30–34%) in the U.S. In the early 2020s, Imperial ranks as one of California's poorest counties. It has a lower median household income than either the state or national medians.<ref>{{Cite web|title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US,CA,imperialcountycalifornia/PST045221|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>