Silicon Valley: Geography Is Destiny

Yet I did so without ever having visited Silicon Valley, the stretch of land between San Francisco and San Jose that forms the spiritual and economic home of all things tech. Unlike the great cities of America—New York, Chicago, even flat, suburban Los Angeles—contemporary San Francisco is defined by its enormous hinterland, known as the Bay Area. It is 40 miles (or 64km) from downtown San Francisco to Mountain View, where Google is headquartered, roughly the same distance as from central London to Reading, or from midtown Manhattan to Edison, New Jersey.

Source: www.economist.com