Alta California (English: Upper California) was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory, created in 1804 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, an area now comprising the modern state of California and other states to the east. Neither Spain nor Mexico ever colonized much beyond the southern and central coastal area, so effective control never extended much beyond Sonoma in the north or the California Coast Ranges in the west.