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| Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2000, the population was 401,762. The county seat is Salinas. Monterey County is a member of the regional governmental agency, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments. The coastline, including Big Sur, State Route 1, and the 17 Mile Drive on the Monterey Peninsula has made the county world famous. The city of Monterey was the capital of California under Spanish and Mexican rule. The economy is primarily based upon tourism in the coastal regions, and agriculture in the Salinas River valley. Most of the county's people live near the northern coast and Salinas valley, while the southern coast and inland mountain regions are almost devoid of human habitation. The county derived its name from Monterey Bay. The bay was named by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602 in honor of the Conde de Monterrey (or 'Count of Monterrey'), then the Viceroy of New Spain. Monterrey is a variation of Monterrei, a municipality in the Galicia region of Spain from which the Conde de Monterrey and his father (the Fourth Count of Monterrei) were from. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,771 square miles (9,767 km²), of which 3,322 square miles (8,604 km²) is land and 449 square miles (1,163 km²) (11.91%) is water. The county is roughly 1.5 times larger than the state of Delaware. | |||||
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