1776 The future site of San Francisco was founded as Juan Bautista de Anza, one of the great western pathfinders of the 18th century, arrived there with 247 colonists. Anza established a presidio, or military fort, on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula.

I just have to say this. In Riverside, CA, where I grew up, in downtown there is a statue of him and a movie theatre (probably a church by now) and a few other things named after him. My history teacher in high school said that the only thing de Anza did in Riverside was to pass through it without stopping. Talk about capitalizing on someone's name. Made me laugh.