Los Angeles

The effects of globalization have endowed several geographical locations with economic, political, social, and cultural significance. Los Angeles, California, is the second largest city in the United States, and although it is not considered to be one of the urban sociologist Saskia Sassen's three “global cities”—referring to New York, London, and Tokyo—it is regarded as a major contributor to several cultural aspects of California and the larger United States. As the county seat, the city of Los Angeles is surrounded by 88 other cities, incorporating more than 10 million residents.

From its very inception in the mid-18th century, the city of Los Angeles has been associated with religion and has contributed widely to the diversity of faith-based communities. The current distribution of religious congregations and centers attests to the transnational history and culture of religion within a global context.

The name Los Angeles originates from a Spanish-Franciscan missionary expedition that took place in 1769. On August 2 of that year, the Franciscan priest Father Juan Crespi named the Los Angeles River after Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciuncula (Our Lady of the Angels of the Small Portion). Adhering to the Franciscan calendar, Crespi's choice of names referred to the celebration of the Feast of Perdono, which takes place at the chapel of St. Francis de Assisi. As this chapel is particularly small, its name was accompanied by the Italian word porziuncola, or “small parcel of land.” Crespi gave the river its name in honor of the chapel and the calendar date when the river was found by the expedition.

In 1781, the Spanish governor Felipe de Neve founded the city of Los Angeles, naming it El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Small Portion). Forty years later, following Mexico's independence from Spain, Los Angeles became part of Mexico, only to be ceded to the United States of America according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848.

Since the time of Father Crespi's visit to the banks of the Los Angeles River, the “City of Angels,” as it is popularly known, has grown to become a cultural hub for more than 3.5 million residents, making Los Angeles well known for its international diversity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data for the year 2000, of these 3.5 million Angelenos within Los Angeles proper, roughly 50% are listed as Latin American, another 30% are listed as White, while African and Asian Americans make up some 10%. The remainder are a mix of various ethnic and national identities, largely immigrants from other countries, or do not identify themselves in these terms.

Along with this racial and ethnic diversity comes a variety of religious communities scattered throughout the city's nearly 500 square miles (1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers). The religious fabric of Los Angeles is largely composed of five major religious traditions, including Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam. There are also significant, though considerably smaller, representative populations from Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Jehovah's Witnesses faiths.

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