Preface

“The flashing and golden pageant of California,

The sudden and gorgeous drama, the sunny and ample lands,. . .

Ships coming in from the whole round world, and going out to the whole world,

To India and China and Australia and the thousand island paradises of the Pacific. . .”

Walt Whitman, “Song of the Redwood-Tree” (1874)

Whitman’s enchanting “Song of the Redwood-Tree” has had a strong basis in the historical record. While this poem omits the gritty details of how “crimps” (owners of boardinghouses for sailors) strong-armed prospective crewmen into sea duty in San Francisco waterfront saloons, it still captures the alluring relationship California has had with the Pacific world for the past 500 years and more. Providing a comprehensive account of that past, Pacific Eldorado simultaneously illuminates the historical stepping stones to the state’s twenty-first century prominence in the Pacific Basin and globally. In doing so, it aspires to be among those on the cutting edge of internationalizing state and local history and giving the state’s long-time Pacific connections their due.

In other words, Pacific Eldorado narrates the story of a “greater California,” a place whose history in numerous instances extends well beyond the geographical boundaries of the state. These “beyond the borders” connections challenge the prevalent notion of an isolated early California and suggest the need for a history that weaves the local, the national, and the international into a coherent narrative. For example, if Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes’s epic maritime expedition (1838-42), which brought him to the San Francisco Bay area, is even mentioned in current California history textbooks, they offer virtually no coverage of how that exploration connected California to America’s “manifest destiny” of conquering North America and expanding transpacific commerce. In short, the relationship between California and the Pacific world that Walt Whitman expressed in verse, and which the historical record supports, seems to have gone little noticed in current chronicles of the state.

This textbook aims to help students better understand the state’s fascinating and complex history by placing it squarely within the context of Pacific geological processes resulting in land formation, prehistoric Pacific voyaging leading to early settlement, international transpacific commerce, Pacific immigration, Pacific imaginings that have infused the “California Dream” of a better life for all, and America’s expansion beyond its western shoreline and into the world’s largest ocean basin. This means a spatial re-framing of California’s past. Anticipating this fresh approach to California history, Kevin Starr wrote in Clio on the Coast (2010): “Even further down the road, into the twenty-first century, lay the challenge of integrating the Pacific Coast and the nation behind it into a comparative history of the Asia/Pacific Basin of which it was a part. China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand, after all, and the other Asia/Pacific places as well, had long since been important components of the California story.” Started two years before and independently of this call for a Pacific-centered California history, this is the first textbook to take up Starr’s challenge to historians of the Golden State.

The major theme of this volume could be described as follows: From its beginning, California’s history has been shaped increasingly by its Pacific Basin connections - connections that have derived largely from the state’s resources, which is why “Eldorado” appears in the title. Throughout California’s past, such resources have included sea otter pelts, lumber, whale oil, hides and animal fat (tallow) used for candle-making, gold, borax cleanser, petroleum, farm products, films and media works, Silicon Valley computer technologies, and more.

The book’s five related supporting themes include:

•  Greater California: The Golden State’s history has been so international, national, and regional from its outset that it must be understood within a broader or “greater” context than its geographical boundaries would suggest.

•  A Connected California: The widely accepted notion of an isolated California before 1850 is misleading and overlooks facts to the contrary.

•  A Pacific Population: Historically, the peopling of California reflects its close ties to the Pacific Basin.

•  A Pacific-infused “California Dream”: The “California Dream” of seeking limitless wealth and opportunities, that is, the American Dream writ large, contains elements of the area’s Pacific connections and imaginings.

•  America and the Pacific World: California’s development markedly illustrates the importance of the Pacific Basin in U. S. history.

Organizationally, the textbook’s 14 chapters move chronologically from the geologic formation and earliest peopling of California into the second governorship of Jerry Brown in the years 2011-12. All chapters open with an overview of the topic at hand, followed by a Timeline. Each chapter includes a brief Pacific Profile essay, featuring a person whose life and/or contributions exemplify the role of the Pacific in shaping California history. In some instances such persons have been well known (railroad magnate and former governor, Leland Stanford) and in other instances they have not (restaurateur Norman Asing). Some called California home (former governor, Hiram Johnson); others just visited (mariner and explorer Alejandro Malaspina). The intent has been to humanize the state’s past, helping readers see California’s Pacific maritime and other connections through the lives of real people. Each chapter ends with a brief Summary, Review Questions, and a Further Readings section that offers an annotated list of written sources for those who wish to explore the “flashing and golden pageant” of Pacific California in more depth and detail.

T. J.O.

Laguna Beach and San Francisco