we are going to do it a little bit faster and then clap. otsukaresama deshita [applause] clifton: thank you again for coming. thank you. >> you are watching american history tv, all weekend and every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. , americand long

history tv is joining our comcast cable car best partners to showcase the history of california. to learn more about the cities on our 2015 tort, visit c-spa n.org/citytour. we continue now with the city of oakland. where i am standing right now buildthe heart -- that we -- we rely on goods movement and in a lot of ways that we do not think of. imports and exports keep the economy going and jobs going. the things that you and i rely on in our daily lives are moving on ships to and from this area

all of the time. what is fascinating about this location, is when you look back centuries ago to who was here first. it was the native americans because this was such a great location in terms of the weather, food, being able to and theor food environment that had what they needed to survive. , when you hear the industrial noises in the background, just know that 1500 years ago, this is where the native americans were. it was 1850 one california became a state. beganrea is where oakland , right after that time in california became a state. this activityll with people coming and going because of the gold rush, the

need for goods to be moving in and out of this area, you can understand how the city would start to leave all from its roots at the port and move inland. 1850, there was a lot of development and railroads. right here, there was a terminus for the transcontinental railroad. when you have a transcontinental railroad, you are looking at goods moving in and out of north america in a convenient way. oakland was a natural location for the focus of being a port and bringing ships in and out and being a place where people bought goods. the port of oakland is in a great location for its business. because of its proximity to the central valley, it is considered

a growing region, not only for the united states, some people refer to it as a food basket for the world. the location means that we are a great spot for exports, edible fruits and nuts. a lot of the bounty for california that is heading overseas, for asia for example, we include the port of oakland. the agricultural connection goes back to the late 1700s and early 1800s because somewhere -- those were some of the goods moving .hrough that area it was considered the best way to move goods across the oceans of the world. today, of course, we have eel ander ships with st much more viable for transportation overseas.

the agricultural bounty has been a strong, export product from this area for more than 100 years. 1900s, the port of oakland was very typical of what you would see moving in terms of goods like ports around the country. the revolution in goods movement came around 1956 when interlocal goods movement was invented. i will explain what that means in simple terms. mogul goods came around, we had woke which was basically goods in bulk sa cks. people would have to move it onto a wooden platform, and when that was filled up, it would be

lifted up and dumped into the belly of the ship. 1950, someone invented a steel box that we can day -- today call a container. that's toolbox revolutionized shipping because you could take up steel boxes and stick it on a , or any belly of a ship. intermodal means. that changed everything. you can see the port of oakland crane, and iconic symbol of the oakland waterfront. the first grains came back in the 1960's. the port of oakland became an important port for the whole world. oakland provides a very important foundation, as an economic engine not only to the city of oakland, but also

northern california in the old region. the work that we do, along with our partners and the work we do here spreads out and has a ripple effect, touching jobs across the country. 827,000s up to nearly jobs at the port and at its partners across united states. our city store staff recently traveled to oakland, california to learn about its rich history. learn more about oakland and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv on c-span3. , award-winning documentary film maker rick burns on the relationship between film in history.