Founded in 1781 as just a lonely Spanish outpost in Native-American land, Los Angeles grew slowly under Mexican rule and joined the United States with the rest of California shortly before the American Civil War. After the war, in the late 1800's the City of Angels claimed notoriety as the most violent town of the old Wild West, but survived itself and went on to prosper as one of the largest metropolitan cities on the globe while earning it's iconic title of The Entertainment Capital of the World.