Ventura

The (sur)name Ventura (English pronunciation: /vɛnˈtʊrə/, Italian: [venˈtuːra], Portuguese: [vẽˈtuɾɐ], Spanish: [benˈtuɾa]) is Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "good fortune".

Ventura may refer to:

Places

People

Ventura, California

Ventura (officially the City of San Buenaventura; commonly called San Buenaventura before 1891), is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S. Route 101, State Route 33, State Route 126, and State Route 118.

History

Prehistory and indigenous peoples

The original inhabitants of the area were native Chumash people. Archaeological research demonstrates that the Chumash have deep roots in central and southern coastal regions of California, and has revealed artifacts from their culture dating back two thousand to over ten thousand years. The Ventura band (Mitskanaka), which was in residence at the time of the arrival of the Spanish, had contact with the Limu band on Santa Cruz Island, who traveled in seagoing canoes called tomol bringing shell bead money and chert in trade.

In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition, first recorded European visitors to inland areas of California, came down the Santa Clara River Valley from the previous night's encampment near today's Saticoy and camped near the outlet of the Ventura River on August 14. Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, noted that "we saw a regular town, the most populous and best laid-out of all that we had seen on the journey up to the present time."

City council

A city council, town council, town board, or board of aldermen is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.

Australia and New Zealand

Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies. However, it is generally only those local government areas which have been specifically granted city status (usually on a basis of population) that are entitled to refer to themselves as cities. The official title is "Corporation of the City of ------" or similar.

Some of the larger urban areas of Australia are governed mostly by a single entity (see Brisbane and other Queensland cities), while others maybe controlled by a multitude of much smaller city councils. Also some significant urban areas can be under the jurisdiction of otherwise rural local governments. Periodic re-alignments of boundaries attempt to rationalize these situations and adjust the deployment of assets and resources.

Local councils in New Zealand do vary in structure, but are overseen by the government department Local Government New Zealand. For many decades until the local government reforms of 1989, a borough with more than 20,000 people could be proclaimed a city. The boundaries of councils tended to follow the edge of the built-up area, so little distinction was made between the urban area and the local government area.

Santa Barbara

Santa Bárbara or Santa Barbara, (meaning Saint Barbara in several Romance languages), was an early Christian saint and martyr.

Santa Bárbara or Santa Barbara may also refer to:

Places and jurisdictions

Americas