Description & Facts: Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. Sonoma today is a center of wine industry for the Sonoma Valley AVA Appellation, as well as the home of the nationally recognized Sonoma Valley Film Festival. Sonoma's population was 9,128 as of the 2000 census.[2] Sonoma was the capital of the short-lived California Republic. The region of Sonoma was originally the home of Native American Coast Miwok tribes as well as the Pomo people and Wintuns. Many of the Native Americans still remain, even after seven changes in government since the Spanish first explored and took over the region (see Sonoma County for governments.) The town of Sonoma, El Pueblo de Sonoma, began with the Mission San Francisco Solano founded in 1823 by Father Joseph Altimira of Spain. This mission was the farthest north of all 21 California missions connected by a "Royal Road" called El Camino Real. The Mission San Francisco Solano was the sole California mission established under the rule of a newly-independent Mexico, and the last. Soon after it was built, it was secularized by the Mexican government, under the orders of Lieutenant, later General, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Under Vallejo's supervision, the El Presidio de Sonoma, or Sonoma Barracks (part of Spain's Fourth Military District), was built beside the mission for the army, and he pursued control and order in the region over the native tribes and kept a military eye on the Russians of Fort Ross. Vallejo's relationship with the Native Americans of the region was helped by another resident of Sonoma, his friend and ally the native called Chief (Sem-Yeto) Solano of the Suisunes who had been baptized at the mission. Sonoma was also the first place in California to fly the "Bear Flag". Plaza: El Pueblo de Sonoma was laid out in the standard form of a Mexican town, centered around the largest plaza in California, 8 acres in size. This plaza is surrounded by many historical buildings, including the Mission San Francisco Solano, Captain Salvador Vallejo's Casa Grande, the Presidio of Sonoma, the Blue Wing Inn, the Sebastiani Theatre, and the Toscano Hotel. In the middle of the plaza, Sonoma's early 20th-century city hall, at the plaza's center and still in use, was designed and built with four identical sides in order not to offend the merchants on any one side of the plaza. The plaza is a National Historic Landmark and still serves as the town's focal point, hosting many community festivals and drawing tourists all year round. There are approximately thirty restaurants in the plaza area, including Italian, Irish, Mexican, Portuguese, Mediterranean, Himalayan, and French. It provides a central tourist attraction. It is also the location of the Farmer's Market, held every Tuesday evening from April to October. Sonoma is also considered the birthplace of wine-making in California, dating back to the original vineyards of Mission San Francisco Solano, then improvements made by Agoston Haraszthy, the father of California viticulture and credited with introduction of the Zinfandel/Primitivo grape varietal. The Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival takes place late each September, and is California's oldest celebration of its winemaking heritage.