The Boomerang Box has just delivered a load of goods to Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is often called Krung Thep, which means City of Angels.

At the same time, Boomerang Box Jr. - that zippy, 20-foot-long mobile classroom that looks just like the big Boomerang Box on the outside - has been preparing to visit a City of Angels halfway around the world from Bangkok: Los Angeles, California!

The Port of Los Angeles is located on San Pedro Bay in southern California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the busiest ports in the world, handling over 3.5 million TEU's (twenty-foot equivalent units, or containers the size of Jr.) in 1999.

If you've been following the Boomerang Box, you'll find that the history of the Port of Los Angeles shares many things in common with other ports around the world. The San Pedro Bay, home of the Port of Los Angeles, was first discovered by European explorers (Spanish, in this case) in 1542, right in the middle of all the European trade explorations you've read about here. The explorers called the area the "Bay of Smokes."

But, as in Fremantle, Australia, early European explorers didn't find much in the Los Angeles area to keep them there at first. They were much more concerned with starting settlements on the East Coast of America. And so the area was left alone for more than 200 years.

In the late 1700's, a group of Spanish missionaries returned to the San Pedro Bay. They opened a mission 40 miles inland, and named it El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Poricuncula (the Village of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Poricuncula). These missionaries established trade relationships between settlers in the area and Spain.

The Los Angeles area thrived as a trading port. When we visited Bangkok, we learned that its location on a river made it a popular port. For Los Angeles, it was location on a cross-country rail line that helped it succeed. In 1869, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad started a 21-mile train line between the port and the City of Los Angeles. By the early 1900's, the port's wharves were connected to the rest of the United States through the Southern Pacific Railroad. Using the railroad, it was easy to move goods in and out of Los Angeles to almost anywhere in North America. So Los Angeles became a natural West Coast stopping point for ships.

The Port of Los Angeles became a public, government-owned port in 1907. It is owned by the City of Los Angeles.

The port grew even more after the Panama Canal was opened in 1914. Los Angeles was the nearest American port to the west end of the canal. As a result, it drew many ships making the cross-country voyage through the canal from the East Coast of the United States.

Trains continue to play a major role in the port's success. In fact, Boomerang Box Jr. will be traveling to Los Angeles by train. The Jr. Box will leave Oakland, California on a Pacer Stacktrain and travel down to the coast to Los Angeles. Once there, Jr. will travel about the area by truck, visiting many local schools.

Study questions

1. Can you locate San Pedro Bay and the City of Los Angeles on a map?

2. Do any train lines come to your town? Use the library or Internet to research the history of these train lines. When were they built? Why were they built? Who uses them now?

Check out past Trade Topics entries!