European pioneers on the Pacific Coast of South America
© WTA Publishing
Valparaiso Bound!
Chapters (cont.) • Independence, with a little help from European friends - From 1816 onwards, English, Scottish, Irish and French naval and army officers lent their strengths and experience to the independence sruggles in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. • The newcomers: who, why and where from? - After the Spanish came waves of immigrants, travellers and entrepreneurs, of all kinds and from almost every country of Europe. • A home from home - The newcomers may have been far from their origins, but they brought with them everything to provide familiarity and, for some, considerable domestic comfort, even luxury. • Nature’s challenges: earthquakes, fire, drought and disease - The new arrivals quickly understood that their new surroundings were among the most vulnerable and dangerously untameable to be experienced anywhere in the world. • Farmers and fishermen: a new start in fertile lands and waters - Often sponsored by the Chilean government, poor farmers from Bavaria, the Basque country,Wales, Scotland and Switzerland, among other depressed regions of Europe, struggled to overcome adversity in the south of Chile. The French winemakers and Scandinavian whalers arrived too. • Miners: risk, ruin and (a few) fortunes - adventuring out into the barren and endless desert, they sought gold, silver, copper and all the other mineral assets that underlie Chile’s economic success. A few made fortunes - mainly for investers in the City of London. Most failed, some were ruined and others did not survive the extreme conditions. On the other hand, Chileans played a big role in the Californian gold rush of 1849. • Booms, bubbles, busts ... and a bombardment - The Spanish monarchy choked trade in its empire. Independence brought an opening to the world for commerce. The British dominated global trade at the time and were the prime movers in establishing great trading houses in Valparaiso. • The nitrate men ... and a war - Nitrates for fertilizers and explosives, found in the deserts of Northern Chile and Peru, attracted miners, bankers, engineers and speculators. One such speculator, John Thomas North (the “Nitrate King”), bet heavily - and successfully - on the war between Chile and the Peruvian/Bolivian alliance . • Railways, the nitrate men ... and a revolution - The intriguing story of the nitrate railways, their explosive response on the London Stock Exchange and their role in the Chilean revolution in 1891 which ended with the suicide of President Balmaceda. • The legacies: families, teachers and priests - By the middle of the twentieth century, Chile was no longer dominated by European interests, nor by European families. But the legacy of their presence and influence remained, notably in houses, monuments, churches and that sense of Europeaness that seems so special to Chile.
European pioneers on the Pacific Coast of South America
© WTA Publishing
Valparaiso Bound!
Chapters (cont.) • Independence, with a little help from European friends - From 1816 onwards, English, Scottish, Irish and French naval and army officers lent their strengths and experience to the independence sruggles in Peru, Chile and Bolivia. • The newcomers: who, why and where from? - After the Spanish came waves of immigrants, travellers and entrepreneurs, of all kinds and from almost every country of Europe. • A home from home - The newcomers may have been far from their origins, but they brought with them everything to provide familiarity and, for some, considerable domestic comfort, even luxury. • Nature’s challenges: earthquakes, fire, drought and disease - The new arrivals quickly understood that their new surroundings were among the most vulnerable and dangerously untameable to be experienced anywhere in the world. • Farmers and fishermen: a new start in fertile lands and waters - Often sponsored by the Chilean government, poor farmers from Bavaria, the Basque country,Wales, Scotland and Switzerland, among other depressed regions of Europe, struggled to overcome adversity in the south of Chile. The French winemakers and Scandinavian whalers arrived too. • Miners: risk, ruin and (a few) fortunes - adventuring out into the barren and endless desert, they sought gold, silver, copper and all the other mineral assets that underlie Chile’s economic success. A few made fortunes - mainly for investers in the City of London. Most failed, some were ruined and others did not survive the extreme conditions. On the other hand, Chileans played a big role in the Californian gold rush of 1849. • Booms, bubbles, busts ... and a bombardment - The Spanish monarchy choked trade in its empire. Independence brought an opening to the world for commerce. The British dominated global trade at the time and were the prime movers in establishing great trading houses in Valparaiso. • The nitrate men ... and a war - Nitrates for fertilizers and explosives, found in the deserts of Northern Chile and Peru, attracted miners, bankers, engineers and speculators. One such speculator, John Thomas North (the “Nitrate King”), bet heavily - and successfully - on the war between Chile and the Peruvian/Bolivian alliance . • Railways, the nitrate men ... and a revolution - The intriguing story of the nitrate railways, their explosive response on the London Stock Exchange and their role in the Chilean revolution in 1891 which ended with the suicide of President Balmaceda. • The legacies: families, teachers and priests - By the middle of the twentieth century, Chile was no longer dominated by European interests, nor by European families. But the legacy of their presence and influence remained, notably in houses, monuments, churches and that sense of Europeaness that seems so special to Chile.
