Inland Southern California

Inland Southern California (also called Inland SoCal) or Desert Southern California, refers to all of Southern California east of the Peninsular Ranges and coastal mountains. It consists of two regions, the Inland Empire to the north and the Imperial Valley to the south.
Geography
The land of Inland SoCal is relatively rugged. On the eastern slopes of the coastal mountains are where the thickest vegetation is most often found, though the Imperial and Coachella valleys are heavily irrigated. The land varies from rugged dry earth to soft desert sand dunes. Mountains are sprawled throughout the areas eastern and western regions. The largest body of water in this region is the Salton Sea.
Regions
Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (I.E.), colloquially known as the IE, is an urban and metropolitan area centered around the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino in Southern California. As a metropolitan area it is the third largest in the state of California; while as an urban area, it is the fifth largest in the state.
The United States Census Bureau defines the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area as consisting of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. While some sources, such as The New York Timesand Los Angeles Times have referred to this area as the Inland Empire, some residents of certain areas within the two counties, such as the Victor, Coachella, and Temecula Valleys, consider themselves separate from the IE.
The Census Bureau-defined area covers more than and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Home to over 4 million people, it is the third most populous metropolitan area in California and 14th most populous in the United States. However most of the area's population is located in the southwest corner of the region bordering metropolitan Los Angeles.
The label Inland Empire evolved informally to distinguish the inland region of Southern California from the coastal regions of Southern California. At the end of the 19th century, the region was a major center of agriculture, including citrus, dairy, and wine-making. Agriculture declined through the 20th century, and since the 1970s a rapidly growing population, fed by families migrating in search of affordable housing, has led to more residential, commercial, and industrial development.
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley is a metropolitan and agricultural area of Southern California's Imperial County and northern region of Bajalta California. It is located in more southeastern Southern California, centered around the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered between the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the Salton Sea to the west. Farther west lies the San Diego and Imperial County border. To the north is the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley, which together form the "Cahuilla Basin" or the "Salton Trough", also the county line of Imperial and Riverside counties, and to the south the international boundary with the U.S. State of California and Baja California, Mexico.
Imperial Valley was so named by the Imperial Land Company, in hopes of attracting settlers. Having done that it is now the home of the El Centro metropolitan area and also an economic center of California's, government defined, South Border.
See Also
* South Coast

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