Local entrepreneur Rahim Hassanally provides a brief look back at the history of Solano County in California.
A popular and successful local entrepreneur, Rahim Hassanally, a resident of Solano County, California, offers a brief but interesting and insightful look back at the history of the county, first incorporated on February 18, 1850.
“Created in 1850, Solano County was one of the original California counties,” reveals Hassanally, who’s originally from Texas but has now lived in Solano County, California, for many years.
The county, he says, was named after Chief Solano of the Native American tribe of the region, the Suisun people, at the request of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. “Chief Solano of the Suisun people was also known as Sem-Yeto,” adds Hassanally, “which is said to signify a brave or a fierce hand.”
“Chief Solano of the Suisun people was then subsequently given the Spanish name Francisco Solano during his Catholic baptism,” he goes on, “named after Father Francisco Solano, the Spanish Franciscan missionary.”
Solano is a particularly common surname in northernmost Spain, especially in Zaragoza, Navarra, and La Rioja, according to Hassanally.
Solano County’s county seat, Rahim Hassanally further goes on to reveal, is Fairfield, while its largest city by population is Vallejo, once the home of the Coastal Miwok, Suisunes, and other Patwin Native American tribes. “Area-wise, however,” adds the local entrepreneur, “it’s the county seat city of Fairfield which is the largest.”
The midpoint between San Francisco and Sacramento, Fairfield was founded by clipper ship captain Robert H. Waterman in 1856 and is named after his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. “Today, it’s home to Travis Air Force Base,” points out Hassanally, “as well as the headquarters of Jelly Belly, the manufacturers of Jelly Belly jelly beans and other candy.”
The overall county of Solano covers a total area of approximately 900 square miles, according to Rahim Hassanally, with adjacent counties including Contra Costa County to the south, Sonoma County to the west, and Sacramento County to the east.
“Elsewhere, Solano County, California, is home to a national protected area,” Hassanally reveals, “in the shape of part of San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge.”
“The county also has a number of rare and endangered species,” he adds, wrapping up, “including the Contra Costa goldfields—a species of wildflower—and the Delta green ground beetle which exists only within one small region within Solano County.”
