What Were The Consequences Of The Gold Rushes? Flashcards
When was the california gold rush and how many people went?
1848-9 and only 50,000 people.
What happened to nature as a result of the california gold rush?
Point: there was destruction of lots of wildlife due to harmful mining methods.
Evidence: water jets lead to flooding as rivers got clogged and chemicals killed wildlife.
Analasys: this killed animals directly or destroyed their habitats but also damaged the land to the point that it could not be used for farming in the future. People were desperate to get rich quick so they used methods that were good for getting gold while disregarding the surrounding environment.
What happened to california as a result of the gold rush?
Point: settlement of californian land which grew massively.
Evidence: led to developments in lumbering, farming and merchant businnesses.
Analasys: this lead to a community being set up with better jobs and businesses so more people moved for the gold and settled on the land but people capitalised off of this and set up businesses where there were lots of people who had taken a big risk to get rich quick but were unemployed. They may have then stayed because of the other industries and businesses growing there. Umtimately this lead to california becoming a state in 1850.
What happened to natives as a result of the california gold rush?
Point: they were being increasingly abused and discrimated against by white americans moving west.
Evidence: there was an 1850s law that led to the arrest and selling of natives into slave labour.
Analasys: this shows that natives experienced discrimination by law (de jure) while also being discriminated against daily by whites (de facto). This was because of racism and therefore because whites wanted gold on indian land they moved them or at least were discrimantory towards them.
When and how many people were involved in the pikes peak gold rush?
1858 and 100,000 people because it was only 600 miles away.
What happened to farming as a result of the pikes peak gold rush?
Point: plains were farmed significantly for the first time.
Evidence: settlement in denver led to the first farming in kansas.
Analasys: farmers made a profit off of selling food to the new towns springing up in gold mining districts that would have needed food. They also proved that the plains were not just deserted land and so it encouraged further settlement and other people to start farming on the plains.
What happened in terms of settlement on the plains as a result of the pikes peak gold rush?
Point: plains were settled and were no longer a place to pass through but a place to stay and live.
Evidence: people started settling on the plains for the first time which eventually lead to kansas being named a state in 1861.
Analasys: this shows that people were making the plains their home because there were so many of them that kansas was named a state. They became hubs for promisisng lands in the centre of the country.
Why was tension with natives a result of pikes peak gold rush?
Point: the government repeatedly broke promises to natives leading to tensions between the two groups.
Evidence: broken fort laramie treaty of 1851 which said that the natives had their own land that was just theirs.
Analasys: this shows that the government could not be trusted and because they found gold on their land they just went in which they werent allowed to do. They were also trespassing on native sacred land which would have also been very insulting towards them so tensions grew significantly.
