The Gold Rush And The Cultural Clash
Gold was first discovered in California on 24th of January, in 1848, by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter Mill. When the news of the discovery of gold started to spread, men, women, and children from all over the United States, and the globe started to arrive in California in search of making a fortune.
The Gold Rush attracted millions from Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. At first gold was retrieved from streams and riverbeds, but after the introduction of the sophisticated methods, gold that was worth billions was found, which made quite a number of people wealthy. Many were not as fortunate enough and returned home almost empty handed.
People from different areas having different cultures came to California in search of gold. With this, the cultural diversity originated. People from Latin America arrived earlier than others. They were followed by people from China, who also arrived there in search of the precious metal. California was referred as the Mountain of Gold.
The local people of California considered these outsiders to be just searching from the rocks and nothing else. However, later they came to know about the worth of these rocks containing gold deposits in them. Besides, they formed groups and started searching for gold together. These groups were formed by the Indians. The gold was traded for food items, jewellery and other necessary items at first. They learnt the tactics of business later, when they realised that they had been cheated since long.
The desire for gold increased enormously, which led these people to cheat each other. The new miners were at loss. The Chinese miners used their own Chinese people to extract gold in order to prevent the unfair dealings. However, Americans never left them and thus, cheated them as well. The Americans allotted them places which had nothing, but worthless pebbles.
At first, the spirit of community work increased and people extended helping hand in process of searching gold. Later on, the lust for gold overcame the spirit of community work. Moreover, the arrival of new comers also increased the competition and the process speeded up.
Thus, it became the habitat of people, arriving from different parts of the world. Everyone had his own cultural values and vernacular languages. A sense of racial superiority developed amongst Anglo Americans, which led to the discrimination in the entire region. Mexicans and Chileans were subjected to this discrimination; Chinese were treated in the worst manner. Thus, cultural clashes emerged, which give way to racial discrimination. The Latin American employed the inferior group of people to extract gold deposits; while they led a luxurious life themselves. The miners from other countries threw out the natives of California, who as a result, made attempts to keep their rights reserved. The invasive miners raged out, resulting in the slaughter of Indians. They were also supported by the government.
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