Sacramento, California

=== Spanish period ===
In 1808, the Spanish explorer [[Gabriel Moraga]] encountered and named the [[Sacramento Valley]] and the Sacramento River. A Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cathedralsacramento.org/ |title=Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament – Sacramento, California |publisher=Cathedralsacramento.org |date=November 11, 2012 |access-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116093832/http://www.cathedralsacramento.org/ |archive-date=November 16, 2012}}</ref>
<blockquote>
Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like [[champagne]], and (''the Spaniards)'' drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento! (It's like the Blessed Sacrament.)"
</blockquote>
The valley and the river were then christened after the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ," referring to the Catholic [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacrament]] of the [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Eucharist]].