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The Opium War
“In 1839 when the Opium war between China and Great Britain broke out, Tao Chi’en was sixteen years old. At that point the country was overrun with beggars”(Narrator 200).
At this point, large quantities of opium were being smuggled into China by Britain in the 1830s. Many Chinese people would become poor and addicted as a result of this.This started the opium war between China and Great Britain. -
English Colony Arrives In Valparaiso
And that was the state of things at the end of 1845 when the commercial maritime fleet of Great Britain assigned a chaplain in Valparaiso” (Allende, 76). Allende enjoys providing historical context and adds that the major reason the British arrived in Valparaiso were missionaries. -
European Immigration to Chile
“The government is trying to improve the race by importing European immigrants. Did you know, Mr Todd, that in the south they are giving away land to colonists?”(23). European colonists left their home countries in the 1840s and immigrated to Chile, other South American nations, and particularly North America. A law was passed in 1845 to encourage European immigrants by offering them a free passage to Chile and a plot of land that would be fully stocked upon their arrival. -
The Discovery of Gold
“James Marshall, a carpenter working for Sutter, discovered gold at the sawmill Sutter was having built in Coloma, on the American River.” On January 24, 1848 there was gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill along the American River. -
Chilean immigration
In February of 1849 many people were immigrating from Chile to america because of the gold rush“Chilean and Peruvian women on their way to California . . .”(173) -
The American dream
The American dream was the motivation for many people to move from Europe, Asia, and Africa because of a promised “better life” for them and their children. “as she told Eliza sad tales about her life as a whore and of her fantasy of getting rich and returning to Chile as a lady" (Allende 260). -
California becoming a State
California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. “In September of 1850, Tao was present at the noisy patriotic celebration when California became the newest state in the Union” (386). Allende describes the celebration as noisy and patriotic, giving us a glimpse at what being at the celebration in person could've felt like. -
Women in the Goldrush
Women in 1851 were rarely making their way to California for the gold rush “besides, very few women were going to San Francisco, and all of them of light morals, with the exception of an occasional captain's or businessman's wife” (308) Few women went on highly adventurous journey towards California such as Eliza.