State of San Andreas (HD Universe)

The State of San Andreas, formerly known as the San Andreas Republic, is a fictional state located in the southwestern United States of America, featured in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. San Andreas is closely based on real-life California. When compared to its predecessor, San Andreas is much more accurate in terms of geography and size.

Overview
San Andreas is a large, populous state. Its diverse climate makes it unique, ranging from grassy plains to arid deserts to forests and mountain ranges. The forests of San Andreas are dominated by the mighty Redwood trees, standing tall over the ground. San Andreas is located on the West Coast of the United States, and is the birthplace of several new pop culture trends, including celebrity fallouts. The state sits on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. San Andreas is nicknamed "The Golden State", identical to California's nickname. The explorable area of San Andreas consists of two counties: Los Santos County and Blaine County. It can be assumed, however, that Red County also exists in the state, since it is mentioned in Grand Theft Auto IV. San Fierro is also mentioned numerous times. Hypothetically, San Andreas is almost identical to the state of California. This is based on the U.S maps found in Fort Zancudo.

San Andreas is unique in which it is the first setting in the Grand Theft Auto series to not have any part of the map restricted, except for some locations such as the city airport, the Humane Labs and Research chemical laboratories, the military base, and the state prison. This means that even in the beginning of the story, players can explore and discover the world to their hearts' content. However, some locations such as Sandy Shores do not play a role in the storyline until a certain point in the game is reached.

San Andreas' motto is, "We won't be broken hypocrites forever," said to be on a San Andreas Tourism Board commercial; according to the same advertisement, it is also stated that San Andreas has the most polluted air in the world.

History
Not much is known about the history of San Andreas, but it can be assumed that it mirrors the history of real life California. Throughout the story, it is revealed in bits and pieces of dialogue that San Andreas used to be a territory of Mexico in the 1800s, which explains the large Mexican population and some Spanish geographic names. The city of Los Santos, however, was founded in 1781, which was when the Spanish Empire was still in control. Old Mexican bloodlines like Manuel's have lived here for over 200 years, and consider themselves more American than Americans themselves. Blaine County was established in 1823, only two years after Mexico gained independence.

Judging from the state flag, it is possible that the American settlers came to San Andreas and defeated Mexico, thus establishing the San Andreas Republic. Los Santos County was established in 1889, several years after the founding of Blaine County. In the 20th century, San Andreas became the centre of culture in America and gave birth to the famous Vinewood film culture, resulting in classics like Vinewood Zombie. In Grand Theft Auto IV, it is stated that Los Santos experienced riots in the 1990s, just like the Los Angeles Riots.

The beaver is the official state animal of San Andreas. The beaver can be seen on the state flag, the logo of the Los Santos County Sheriff, and on the seal of the city of Los Santos.

Counties
San Andreas has 4 known counties: Los Santos County, Blaine County, Red County, and Paleto County. However, both Red County and Paleto County are not featured and are only mentioned.

Los Santos County

 * See main article: Los Santos County

Los Santos County is the southernmost county in the state, and is also the most developed. It consists of the cities of Los Santos and Davis, along with a large variety of highlands, beaches, and interconnected highways. The town of Chumash is located in the western side of the county along with a large beach. It is bordered by Blaine County to the north by Route 68. Los Santos County is the urban area of San Andreas.

Blaine County

 * See main article: Blaine County

Blaine County is the the second-southernmost county of the state, mostly known for its wildlife, including a large desert, highlands, a sea, and forests. There are three towns in the county: Sandy Shores, Grapeseed, and Paleto. One of the most visited landmarks in the county is Mount Chiliad. Blaine County is the rural area of San Andreas.

Paleto County

 * See main article: Paleto County

Paleto County is the third-southernmost county of the state. Not much is known about the county, but it is mentioned throughout the story.

Red County
See main article: Red County

Red County is the fourth-southernmost county of the state. Not much is known about the county, but it was mentioned in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Major Cities

 * Los Santos

Towns
The state features four known towns:

Sandy Shores


The town of Sandy Shores is the most notable due to this being the home of one of the protagonists, Trevor Philips. The town is located in the center of the Grand Senora Desert, bordering the Alamo Sea to the north.

Chumash


Chumash is a town mostly based on of Malibu, California. It is supposedly populated by hipsters, as stated by Dave Norton. There are many beachfront homes and some docks. It is bordered by the Great Ocean Highway.

Paleto Bay


Paleto Bay is the northernmost town in the state. Paleto Bay is known for being a visited landmark for people who like base-jumping from Mount Chiliad. Paleto Bay is a good rest stop for truckers on the Great Ocean Highway due to it holding various services such as a bank or a gas station.

Grapeseed


Grapeseed is a town located at the northeast end of the Alamo Sea. The town contains a large amount of farms and is the second biggest town in the state, just behind the nearby town of Sandy Shores.

Unincorporated communities


This is a list of communities that usually have no local government or services and are generally unrecognized as official territories.
 * Altruist Camp
 * Braddock Farm
 * Cape Catfish
 * Dignity Village
 * Galilee
 * Harmony
 * Stab City

Ecosystems
"Our coastal areas and beautiful lakes and rivers are a dream come true for those who crave aquatic adventure. Come relax and take a swim at our beaches (unless it's just after a storm, in which case the runoff is toxic), or go deep and scuba dive to the ocean floor. Keen oceanic explorers have even been known to discover some exciting finds in our coastal waters with the aid of the proper submersible equipment."

- Official tourism website for San Andreas.

San Andreas has a rich and diverse variety of ecosystems ranging from mountains to canyons. These include locations throughout San Andreas that are typically unsettled by humans and populated by different animals.


 * Alamo Sea
 * Banham Canyon
 * Braddock Pass
 * Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness
 * Great Chaparral
 * Grand Senora Desert
 * Lago Zancudo
 * Mount Chiliad
 * Mount Gordo
 * Mount Josiah
 * North Chumash
 * Paleto Forest
 * Palomino Highlands
 * Raton Canyon
 * San Chianski Mountain Range
 * Tataviam Mountains
 * Tongva Hills
 * Tongva Valley

Wildlife
San Andreas is home to many different species of animals. From dogs to seagulls, San Andreas has it all. Animals are not present in Grand Theft Auto Online, however.
 * Deer
 * Dogs
 * Seagulls
 * Sharks
 * Cougars
 * Cows
 * Crows
 * Different species of fish
 * Coyote
 * Boars
 * Pigs
 * Rats
 * Chickens
 * Monkeys (Non-Indigenous)
 * Bigfoot  (A human in a costume) (Only "seen" in the Last One mission) (Also seen by using a special Peyote plant)
 * Cats

Highway System
 ' 'See main article: Numbered Highways in San Andreas

San Andreas has a complex highway system that contains many elaborate routes, interstates, and freeways. The system reaches all throughout the state and is the most developed highway system in the Grand Theft Auto series to date.

Grand Theft Auto IV + Episodes
There are numerous references to San Andreas in GTA IV and its episodes. These include characters mentioning locations, TV shows, and radio, but however, it is hinting towards the GTA: SA Rendition of San Andreas instead of the current.

As seen by character dialogues and internet sites, the city names Los Santos (including Vinewood), Red County, San Fierro, and Las Venturas are still used, confirming that these locations exist in the HD Universe, though it's possible that these cities are a part of the state of San Andreas but are not included in Grand Theft Auto V.

Grand Theft Auto IV


In Grand Theft Auto IV, the stats can say "miles traveled from Liberty City to Los Santos." In The Ballad of Gay Tony, it says "miles traveled from Liberty City to Las Venturas." Also, when you hear other pedestrians on the sidewalk or the street talking on the phone, you may hear them mention San Andreas.
 * The show Patriot 500 depicts Carl Johnson driving a Hotring Racer around Los Santos International Airport.
 * Many characters are born in either Los Santos, San Fierro, or Las Venturas.
 * In multiplayer female face #2 says "This isn't San Andreas! DRIVE, hippy!" during races.
 * The clothing line Enema is based in Los Santos.[[Image:Rotterdam Cities.jpg|thumb|The [[Rotterdam Tower]]'s ground level lobby in The Ballad of Gay Tony.]]



Episodes From Liberty City

 * At the end of the mission Shifting Weight, Malc jokes that he and Johnny should get a room at the Jefferson Motel, a motel in Los Santos.
 * During gang wars against the Angels of Death, Johnny will sometimes yell, "Go back to San Fierro!"

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

 * The in-game description of cocaine says how it can make you "party like the guys in Vinewood."

Distance away from each other
Considering the price difference between the two (as seen in the images at right), San Andreas in the HD Universe is farther away from each other. In reality, that is true as Los Angeles is in Southern California, San Francisco is in Northern California, and Las Vegas is in Nevada, making each city more than 100 miles away from each other.

Trivia

 * So far, San Andreas is the largest setting ever featured in the Grand Theft Auto series, with a total area of 49 square miles.SanAndeasComparison-GTAV-GTASA.jpeg
 * Throughout GTA V, San Andreas is often accused of stereotypes that mirror real-life Californians. For example, the people of San Andreas are described as "illegal immigrants," "hipsters," and "fake plastic people."
 * Just like its predecessor, San Andreas seems to be just a large island isolated from the rest of America. However, the in-game US maps seem to show a normal-looking America, with the exception of a state which is in place of where California should be and has the same shape as the real life state, the only exception being the southern part of the state being gone, as the map that the game is in is based on that area.
 * San Andreas is the first map in the Grand Theft Auto series to consist of one solid landmass that remains unrestricted to the player (with exception of a few locations). Previous entries have consisted of several islands connected to each other that remained restricted to the player until a certain point in the story was reached.
 * It was confirmed through Rockstar that the present area the player can explore in GTA V is not the whole state of San Andreas, but just the southern island portion of it. This might explain the lack of a designated state capital. It is likely that the GTA equivalent of the areas south of Los Santos, including San Diego exist and are simply not depicted for gameplay purposes.
 * Judging by the overall terrain along the coast of San Andreas, it would be assumed that the northeast coast (specifically around Mount Gordo) would have consisted of mostly desert and eventually Las Venturas (had water not been used as a free-roam natural barrier). Part of this theory is supported by how the west coast consists almost entirely of natural beaches; whereas the east coast consists entirely of ridges and rock formations. To further back this theory, it is possible that the east coast would also serve as part of a river as the wreckage of a river steamboat can be found in the southeast section of the state as well as Lester mentioning in The Paleto Score that the body of water north of Paleto Bay is actually a river. The presence of Cape Catfish on the eastern coast of San Andreas, as well as islands and coves would not make sense if the east coast is supposed to be desert. The area south of the Palomino Highlands would most likely not be water as depicted, but would instead be the rest of Southern San Andreas, including the GTA equivalent of San Diego.
 * San Andreas is the first fictional state in the GTA series to be featured with its own state flag. The flag resembles California's flag except that the red stripe and star is now blue and the bear is replaced by a beaver. The animals are also facing different directions.
 * San Andreas in HD Universe's shape sightly resembles Corvo Island (Crow in Portuguese) from Azores archipelago.
 * It may be that the beaver is the official state animal of San Andreas as seen on its flag. In real life, the official state animal of California is a bear.
 * California and its locations are mentioned several times in the radio. There is also a California license plate on a wrecked car in the Grand Senora Desert.

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