ĭon José de la Guerra y Noriega served as Commandant of the Presidio of Santa Barbara and founded the Guerra family of California, a prominent Californio family which produced numerous Mayors of Santa Barbara, California Senators, and more. During the following decades, many of the natives died of diseases such as smallpox, against which they had no natural immunity. The Chumash laborers built a connection between the canyon creek and the Santa Barbara Mission water system through the use of a dam and an aqueduct. It was dedicated by Padre Fermín Lasuén, who succeeded Padre Junipero Serra as the second president and founder of the California Franciscan Mission Chain. It was the tenth of the California Missions to be founded by the Spanish Franciscans. The Santa Barbara Mission was established on the Feast of Saint Barbara, December 4, 1786. Many of the Spaniards brought their families with them, and those formed the nucleus of the small town – at first just a cluster of adobes – that surrounded the Presidio of Santa Barbara. They were sent to both secure the Spanish claim to the region and to convert the indigenous peoples to Catholicism.

The first permanent European residents were Spanish missionaries and soldiers under Felipe de Neve, who arrived in 1782 and constructed the Presidio.

Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary are located approximately 20 miles (30 km) offshore. Behind the city, in and beyond the Santa Ynez Mountains, is the Los Padres National Forest, which contains several remote wilderness areas. Highway 101 to Los Angeles 100 mi (160 km) to the southeast and San Francisco 325 mi (525 km) to the northwest. The Santa Barbara area is connected via U.S. The city is served by Santa Barbara Airport and train service is provided by Amtrak, which operates the Pacific Surfliner, which runs from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. Education in particular is well represented, with four institutions of higher learning on the south coast: the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, and Antioch University. In 2004, the service sector accounted for 35% of local employment. In addition to being a popular tourist and resort destination, the city has a diverse economy that includes a large service sector, education, technology, health care, finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and local government.

Census, the city's population was 88,665. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the 'American Riviera'. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara ( Spanish: Santa Bárbara, meaning ' Saint Barbara') is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat.

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