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Chinese Immigration
Immigrants from China first arrived in the 1840s. These immigrants came to America in hopes of leaving behind poverty, hunger, and harsh economic conditions. Most Chinese immigrants entered California through San Francisco and found work in railroad construction, mining, and agriculture. -
The California Gold Rush
On January 24, 1848, a man named James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River while constructing a sawmill for a Sacremento agriculturalist. News of Marshall's discovery brought thousands of immigrants to California from elsewhere in the United States and from other countries. This caused California's population to increase dramatically. In Sanfrancisco, for example, the population grew from 1,000 in 1848 to over 20,000 by 1850. -
The California Gold Rush (cont.)
The California gold rush triggerad a global emigration of fortune-seekers from China, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Ireland, Turkey, and France. The number of Chinese gold-seekers was particularly large, though many Chinese did not intend to settle in the United States. The large increase of Chinese and other foreign laborers led to ethnic tensions in California, especially as gold grew scarce. The gold rush forever changed California, and it is now one of the most ethnically diverse states. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was put in place to prohibit further immigration from China. It was renemwed in 1892, and finally made permanent in 1902. The exclusion acts were repealed in 1944, when the U.S. needed China as an ally in World War II. Immigration was still restricted until the 1965 Immigration Act which repealed in favor of a family-based reunification policy. -
Immigration in the Early 1900s
After the depression of the 1890s, immigration jumped from a low of 3.5 million in that decade to a high of 9 million in the first decade of the new century. After the 1880s, immigrants increasingly came from Eastern and Southern European countries, as well as Canada and Latin America. After 1914, immigration dropped off because of the war, and later because of immigration restrictions imposed in the 1920s.
