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Chilean silver rush
“...rich veins of silver and gold were discovered in the north” (65).“Between 1830 and 1850, Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented pace which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth.” -
Concepcion earthquake
“A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations: the earth, the very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin crust over a fluid; - one second of time has created in the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would not have produced”. -
China Opium war
“ Although opium was valued as a medicine that could ease pain, assist sleep and reduce stress, by 1840 there were millions of addicts in the country.” -
Treaty of Guadalupe
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an official end to the Mexican-American War (1846-48), was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city to which the Mexican government had fled with the advance of U.S. forces”. -
Gold discovered in Serra Nevada Foothills January 1848
“In January 1848, gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills and San Francisco was changed forever. People flocked to California from all over the world to seek their fortune.” -
San Francisco population increased
By that time there were more than 100,000 argonauts in California, and more kept arriving, scattered all through the mother lode, turning the world upside down…”(329).
“Almost overnight, the gold rush transformed San Francisco into a booming city filled with makeshift tent-houses… By 1849, as the gold rush fever swept through the country, the city's population exploded to a staggering 25,000.” -
Voyage to San Francisco
In the fall of 1848, the brig J.R.S. sailed into Valparaiso carrying California gold. She was followed by the Adelaide and the Correro de Talcahuano, which carried 130 pounds of gold dust. The sight of California's riches captivated Chileans.”