A World Transformed: Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1890771139 ISBN 13: 9781890771133

Publisher: Heyday Books, 1999

Synopsis

A World Transformed gathers together the writings of early European explorers, missionaries, sea captains and other visitors, from the first Spaniards to glimpse San Francisco Bay in 1769 to the eve of the gold rush. In 15 literate and accessible accounts by Father Juan Crespi, George Vancouver, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Edwin Bryant and others, the transformation of San Francisco (and by extension, all of California) unfolds before us. A land of bountiful and open meadows, oak woodlands, plentiful game, and countless distinct groups of native people becomes dominated by a Spanish mission and presidio. A Mexican town grows up and eventually becomes a small city inhabited largely by Bostonians and other Anglo merchants, engaged in trade with the Clipper ships of the East Coast. Modern California emerges, not suddenly but perhaps inevitably.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In 1769 the first Spanish explorers into California encountered a strange and wondrous land: trees "exceedingly high and straight" (redwoods); animals "long-eared like mules" (elk); and numerous native peoples speaking a multitude of languages. By 1846, however, California was already a world transformed. Attending a dinner party in San Francisco, Edwin Bryant remarked: "It was very difficult for me to realize that I was many thousand miles from home, in a strange and foreign country. All the faces about me were Americanand every American who is now here considers himself as treading upon his own soil."

California changed dramatically in the years between the founding of the first mission in 1769 and the 1848 gold rush. These eleven eyewitness accounts vividly describe the first European land expedition into an unknown territory; the spread of the missions; the rule of Spain and then Mexico; the rise and fall of California's Russian colony; the emergence of rancho culture; the semi-feudal empires of Vallejo and Sutter; and the arrival of Anglo-Americans as ship-deserters, settlers, traders, and ultimately--perhaps inevitably--the masters of California.

About the Author:

Joshua Paddison is a freelance writer and research historian who lives in San Francisco. He has worked for a variety of historical institutions and publications, including the Southern Oregon Historical Society, the California Council for the Humanities, and California History journal. He served as chief researcher for Gold Rush: A Literary Exploration (Heyday Books, 1997) and worked on Gold Fever: The Lure and Legacy of the California Gold Rush and A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in California (both University of California Press, 1999). He is currently a graduate student in U.S. history at San Francisco State University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Heyday Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1890771139
• ISBN 13: 9781890771133
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344
• Editor: Paddison Joshua