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concépcion earthquake
“That was the year of the floods, which were immortalized in schoolchildren’s textbooks and in their grandparents’ memories. . . .a series of minor temblors, which came like God’s wrath, finished destroying everything . . .” (38-39). “Two hundred years earlier, a devastating earthquake . . .”(40)
https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/commentary/geology/darwin-s-earthquakes -
Opium wars
Britain won the war in 1842, leading to the Treaty of Nanking. This treaty gave Hong Kong Island to Britain, allowed for free British trade with any merchants in China, and forced China to pay damages for the destroyed opium. "in 1839 when the Opium War between China and Great Britain broke out Tao Chien was sixteen years old" -
Chilean silver rush
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. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay. "rich veins of silver and gold were discovered in the north” (65). -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This treaty, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. "By the time the news spread California no longer belonged to Mexico" -
Treaty of Nanking
This treaty ended the First Opium War between China and Britain. It forced China to cede Hong Kong to Britain, open several ports to British trade, and grant extraterritorial rights to British citizens in China. -
CA becomes a state
California was officially admitted to the Union as the 31st state, shortly after the discovery of gold in the region, marking a significant moment in San Francisco's growth. -
The Vigilance Committee of 1851
A group of citizens formed a vigilante committee to fight rampant crime and corruption in San Francisco, especially targeting criminal gangs and corrupt officials. -
First Transcontinental Railroad Surveyed
The U.S. government conducted an official survey for the Transcontinental Railroad in San Francisco, marking the beginning of a major infrastructure project that would eventually connect the East and West coasts.