El Dorado County, officially the County of El Dorado, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 181,058. The county seat is Placerville.El Dorado County is part of the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is in the historic Gold Country in the Sierra Nevada.El Dorado County's population has grown as Greater Sacramento has expanded into the region. In the county's unique Lake Tahoe area, environmental awareness and environmental protection initiatives have grown along with the population since the 1960 Winter Olympics, hosted at Squaw Valley Ski Resort in neighboring Placer County.HistoryThe present-day site of El Dorado County was once home to the Maidu, Washoe, and Miwok Native American tribes, and is notable for being the site of the 1848 gold discovery that sparked the California Gold Rush. The County of El Dorado was one of California's original 27 counties created effective February 18, 1850 (the number has risen to 58 today). Its name is derived from the Spanish meaning "the gilded/golden".
