-
1839 -1842 Opium War
The Opium War arose from chinas attempt to crush the opium trade.Foreign trades has been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China and China tried to defeat the exporting of Opium."When the Opium War between china and great Britain broke out, Tao Chi'en was sixteen years old." (200) Allende incorporates flashback to know more about Tao Chi'en. -
Period: to
DOF
-
Gold Rush Miners 1848-1849
The hounds had perpetrated many outrages before public indignation was fully aroused.These were directed chiefly against foreigners. "during the period some Yanqui miner mysteriously disappeared although their buddies accused the Indians of not having murdered them."(289) -
Gold Discovered At Sutter's Mill
In 1848 James W. Marshall found shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he was building in the partnership with John Sutter. In January of that year, near the mill of a Swiss farmer on the banks of the American River, a man by the name of Marshall had found a scale of gold in the water"(120).
Allende slips Marshalls name into a sentence, indicating how he wasn't really an important person back then. -
1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
"This treaty signed on February 2,1848, ended the war between United states and Mexico"the yellow pellet that unleashed the madness found nine days after the war between Mexico and the United States had ended with the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo"(145) -
the Chileans came to California
Perez Rosales was 41 years old when he sailed for California on December 28,1848. "Added to five Chileans miners they had brought with them at the end of 1848 were eighty peasants" Chileans came to California to mined the gold and other were not involved before began to take part. -
The Gold Rush 1849-1853
as news spreads thousands of prospective gold miners traveled b y sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area.. "By the time they were more than a thousand argonauts in California, and more kept arriving, scattered, all through the mother lode, turning the world upside down, moving mountains, diverting rivers, destroying forests."(329) -
California enters the union Sep 9, 1950
"In September of 1850,Tao was present at the noisy patriotic celebration when California became the newest state in union."(318). Allende uses descriptive adjectives to highlight the excitement that California's statehood was greeted with. -
Joaquin Murrieta Is Killed
"A team of California rangers, led by Los Angles Deputy sheriff Harry Love attacked an outlaw camp in the early morning hours of July 25, 1853 among them".
The next day Tao Chi'en went out early to buy a newspaper, as he always did before opening the office, and was met with a six column headline:Joaquin Murieta had been killed"(396)". Allende makes Murieta's death feel sudden and surprising.