A tool for teaching about California's landscapes

California's contemporary landscape does not reflect\ud the continued occupance of a single culture, but instead is a\ud composite landscape affected by conflict and eventual compromise\ud of several contrasting systems of spatial organization\ud and resource evaluation. In an ongoing attempt to familiarize\ud my students with these cultures, their landscapes and the changes they imposed on the land, I have experimented with\ud slides, handouts, readings, movies, and lectures. All have\ud had moderate success, but the one that has been most successful\ud is a diagram illustrating California's major landscapes\ud and their relationship to each other. In hopes of assisting\ud others who may have similar difficulties with their California\ud classes, this paper presents the diagram along with a brief\ud description of each of California's major cultural landscapes\ud between 1760 and 1900, and a list of selected references