Davis, California
city in Yolo County, California, United States
Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Davis, which was over 9,400 (not including students' families) in 2016. As of 2023, there were 40,850 students enrolled at the university, which is known as the biking capital of America.
History
Davis sits on land that was historically inhabited by Indigenous people associated with the Clovis culture. The Patwin, a southern branch of Wintun people, eventually displaced existing Indigenous tribes. The Patwin were subsequently displaced by the American and Mexican government in the 1830s as part of the California genocide. Patwin burial grounds have been found across Davis, including on the site of the UC Davis Mondavi Center. Territory that eventually became Davis emerged from ranchos, Laguna de Santos Callé. Jerome C. Davis, a prominent farmer and one of the early claimants to land in Laguna de Santos Callé, lobbied to the United States Congress to retain the land that eventually became Davis. Davis became a depot on the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868, when it was named Davisville after Jerome C. Davis.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Davis, California” is city in Yolo County, California, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Davis, California and city, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in Yolo County, California, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q668546. VIAF identifies the subject as 140713746. The Library of Congress control number is n80015748. Authority coordinates are 38.554, -121.738. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2016, 2023 and 1868.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Davis, California”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Davis, California primary sources, Davis, California archive and Davis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Davis, California”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Davis, California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.